OTD: England’s most-capped Alastair Cook Test batsman was born in 1984

Former England captain and legendary batter Alastair Cook is celebrating his 39th birthday today. He is one of the greatest batters to have ever played the game and arguably the greatest from England. Cook did not just contribute to English cricket as a batter but his leadership skills in Test cricket were also widely applauded. 

The former English captain made his debut in international cricket in a Test match against India at Nagpur in 2006. The youngster performed phenomenally on his debut as he scored a half-century in the first innings followed by a century in the second innings of the test match. It was a grand start to an exemplary test career of an extraordinary batter. The left-handed batter did not have to wait much to make his ODI debut and got to play his first ODI match against Sri Lanka at Manchester in the same year. 

The “Chef” knew the ingredients for success

Alastair Cook, known as Chef among his teammates, became a regular starter for England in both formats very early in his international career. His evolution as a test batter was a sight to behold for the English fans as he emerged as one of the greatest batters to have played test cricket for England. 

Cook could not get much success in ODI cricket but his test stature eclipsed his underwhelming white-ball career. He played 161 test matches for England, the most for any English batter, where he scored 12472 runs at an average of 45.35. The elegant English opener made 33 centuries in test cricket along with 57 half-centuries. In white ball cricket, he played 92 One-Day internationals and 4 T20Is. The former English skipper amassed 3204 runs in ODI cricket at an average of 36.40 to go with 5 centuries and 19 half-centuries. 

Alastair Cook bid adieu to international cricket in a very similar fashion to the way he started his journey, with a half-century and century in each innings of the test match against India. By the time he retired from international cricket, he had already established himself in the elite list of all-time greats.