Why was his quality ever questioned?
CRICKET’S love for a stat means there are many ways to slice and dice Alastair Cook’s passage to 10,000 Test runs — and your approach may determine whether you feel England’s captain qualifies as a genuine great.
Is it more significant, for example, that Cook — at 31 years and 157 days — is the youngest of the 12 batsmen to reach the landmark, or that only three of the other 11 needed more than his 229 innings? And what matters more: that Cook required 10 years and 90 days from his debut to get there, another world record, or that his average of 46.49 is lower than that of any other member of the 10k club?
Those who believe ‘great’ is the most abused adjective in sport will argue that the contemporary game’s congested fixture list has eased Cook on his way.
By contrast, those who understand the mental strength required to deal with 21,658 deliveries, ushering hundreds of them through to the keeper, clipping dozens off his hip, and even helping 10 of them over the ropes for six, may not be minded to quibble.
But is he now, and forever more, a great? Aesthetically, not even his own mother would make that claim. England fans have tended to be reassured by Cook’s presence, not enraptured by it.
If the former England batting coach Graham Gooch always stressed the importance of ‘making’ runs, as opposed to caressing or thrashing them, then Cook has been his star pupil, placing pragmatism above panache, science over art.
Others in the club would approve, not least Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, none of whom would win gold for artistic impression. There is more than one way to skin a Test attack. And in that respect Cook really is up there with the best. He may lack the strokeplay of Brian Lara, the star quality of Sachin Tendulkar, and the destructive capabilities of Ricky Ponting. But, among the 12, only Cook and India’s Sunil Gavaskar know what it is like to go in first, against the best bowlers, when the pitch is at its juiciest and the ball at its hardest, and the direction of the game is yet to be determined. Except during the seven Tests at the start of his international career when he batted at No 3, there has been no one there to protect Cook.
Through it all, and even as captain — he averages 46.69 in charge, a fraction higher than his overall figure — he has been almost superhumanly consistent. In eight of his 10 full calendar years as a Test batsman, he has tallied at least 900 runs. Say what you like about the way he makes his runs, but his greatness resides in his remorseless nature.
How many runs will he end up with? He needs 81 to eclipse Gavaskar’s 10,122 during the third Test at Lord’s and could pass Waugh’s 10,927 by the end of the year. If he reaches 12,000, which could happen next year, he will be sixth, with just Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ponting and Tendulkar ahead of him.
After that, and assuming everything remains in working order, it is a question of how long he wants to go on. Another three or four years, and he could be in touching distance of Tendulkar’s 15,921 at the top of the tree. Even then, the argument will continue, not least in England, where the sporting public can be grudging about the success of their own.
But one thing is certain. By the time Cook calls it a day, he will be so far ahead of the nearest Englishman — Gooch on 8,900 — that we wonder why the question of his greatness was up for debate at all.
Aesthetically even his own mum wouldn’t say he’s a great