Who is Alastair Cook? A dramatic last-minute replacement turned into an international cricket phenomenon – that’s who he is. When touring with the ECB national cricket academy, the England National Team called him up as a replacement for Marcus Trescothick. The rest has been history.
The international team of England had many fine cricketers to hold the frontier of the team. Alastair Cook is one of the finest among them. The youngest player to score 12000 runs, Cook is also one of the leading batsmen of the English test cricket team.
Playing for Essex Country Cricket Club, Sir Cook has played for the International team of England. As a former captain of the ODI and the Test team of England, he scored 33 centuries in the test and has done a great deal for the English cricket team.
This article is a homage to who Alastair Cook is and his remarkable contribution to cricket. You can check Alastair cook’s stats and his records as a cricketer from this article.
Fun fact: Cook has the best batting average compared to 31 captains who led the National team of England before him.
Who Is Alastair Cook?
Cook was born to a mother who worked as a teacher and a father who was a telecommunication engineer. Cook started to play cricket as a boy when he lived with his family in Wickham Bishops. The summer holiday breaks were the time when Cook played for a cricket club named Maldon Cricket Club.
Just at the age of 11, Cook started to play for the adult Third XI. For more than seven years, he played for Maldon.
It is funny, but cricket is not the first talent Cook had. He was also a good musician from the very start of his academic life. His love and expertise in music helped him become a boarding pupil at Bedford school. He learned to play Saxophone, Clarinet, and Piano.
Fun fact: music and cricket are not the only things Alastair Cook is good at. He also has great culinary skills. As a result, he has the nickname, Chef.
Cook’s love for cricket prevailed over music, and we found the fifth-highest scorer as a test cricketer, in him. He is also the second most capped test cricket player of England.
A member of the Essex Academy since the age of 16, Alastair Cook had his first-class domestic debut against Nottinghamshire Country Cricket Club in 2003. Acquiring three half-centuries in the six innings he played, Cook secured his place as an opener in the Country cricket team.
Fun fact: after sir Ian Botham, Cook is the second amongst the English cricketers to receive the honorary title of Sir ( knighthood) from Buckingham Palace.
But domestic cricket was such limited space for so magnificent a cricketer like Alastair Cook. An opportunity opened before Cook as Marcus Trescothick of the England National Cricket team needed a temporary replacement following an unexpected mental breakdown.
The 21-year-old Cook came to fill in the shoes with 60 runs on his debut. Cook added extra charms to his cricketer personae as he scored a century in the following innings. Known as an expert in test cricket, Alastier cook opened with the contemporary team captain Andrew Strauss.
Fun fact: unlike most cricketers, Cook’s first tour abroad was as a musician. His first foreign tour was to Brazil and Netherlands.
After Strauss retired as the team captain and the skipper, there was no better player to helm the England test team. Cook became the test team captain in 2012. He helped team England win the Ashes series of 2009. Later on, Cook captained the English Cricket team in 59 tests and 69 ODIs.
Batting Career
Here is a brief overview of the batting career of Alastair Cook.
| Format | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 200s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
| Test | 161 | 291 | 16 | 12472 | 294 | 45.35 | 26562 | 46.95 | 33 | 5 | 57 | 1441 | 11 |
| ODI | 92 | 92 | 4 | 3204 | 137 | 36.41 | 4154 | 77.13 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 363 | 10 |
| T20I | 4 | 4 | 0 | 61 | 26 | 15.25 | 54 | 112.96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
Fun fact: Sunil Gavaskar saw his potential as a cricketer and said that Alastair Cook could reach 15000 runs and make 50 centuries during his cricket career.
Bowling Career
Here is a brief overview of his bowling career.
| Format | Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBm | Econ | Ave | SR | 5w | 10w |
| Test | 161 | 2 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 1/6 | 1/6 | 2.33 | 7.0 | 18.0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODI | 92 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| T20I | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
The more I say about Cook, the less I have spoken. If you find more curious, the following questions and answers might help you to some extent-
Why Is Alastair Cook Called Chef?
Cook is called Chef because of his skills in cooking. He is not only a musician or a cricketer, but the captain of the team England is also a good musician. But his culinary skills have made him known as Chef.
Why Did Alistair Cook Get Knighted?
For his service to the national cricket team of England, Cook was entitled Knighthood. The skipper and the captain of both the ODI and test cricket of the English cricket team is the second cricketer to achieve this title.
How Many Double Centuries Has Alastair Cook Scored?
Cook has scored 33 centuries in the test. He also hit five double centuries during his career as a test player. Although most critics take him as a test cricket specialist, he has also made a remarkable contribution to the cricket team of England.
Chef Cricketer!
The Chef ( nickname) of the England national cricket team, Alastair Cook, is one of the best Cricketers in the history of English cricket. His remarkable performance from 2010 to 2011 is historically noted as ‘Cook’s Ashes.’
His stubborn dedication got him through 36 hours and 11 minutes on the crease on the crease. What are your opinions of this famous star cricketer? The comment box is all yours to let us know.
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