Alastair Cook

Sir Alastair Nathan Cook (born 25 December 1984) is an English former cricketer and former captain of the England Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams.

He is considered one of the greatest opening batsmen in test cricket.

Cook is the fifth-highest Test run scorer of all time and leading run scorer for England ever.

Cook captained England to its first Test series victory in India since 1984–85.

During the tour he became the first captain to score a century in each of his first five Tests in charge.

He played in several of England's youth teams from 2000 until his call up to the Test side in 2006.

While touring in the West Indies with the ECB National Academy, Cook was called up to the England national team in India as a last-minute replacement for Marcus Trescothick and debuted, aged 21, with a century.

He went on to score 1,000 runs in his maiden year and made centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh.

Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003.

In his final year at Bedford in 2003, he scored 1,287 runs for the school, including two unbeaten double-hundreds, averaging 160.87 to take the school record.

After his international success, Cook returned for an Old Boys' match at Bedford in 2008, playing for the Head Master's Ultimate XI.

Cook played a pivotal role in England winning the 2009 Ashes series, and, after deputising as Test captain in 2010 and then taking ODI captaincy full-time, in retaining the Ashes in 2010–11.

Cook was appointed MBE in 2011 and promoted to CBE in 2016 for services to cricket.

He was appointed captain of the Test team after Andrew Strauss's retirement on 29 August 2012.

On 30 May 2015, Cook became the leading run-scorer in Test matches for England, surpassing Graham Gooch (8900).

After England's 2016 tour of Bangladesh and India, he stepped down as Test captain.

He retired from Test cricket in September 2018 and played for Essex County Cricket Club in English domestic cricket until 2023, while also working for the BBC radio programme Test Match Special, between his commitments for Essex.

Cook is England's most-capped specialist test batsman and captained the England team in 59 Tests, as well as in 69 ODIs.

He is the leading run-scorer in Test matches for England, and the youngest player to score 12,000 Test runs (the sixth overall, and the only Englishman).

Cook scored a record 33 Test centuries for England and is the first England player to win 50 Test matches.

A left-handed opening batsman (the highest-scoring left-hander in Tests), he normally fielded at first slip.

On 24 May 2018 during the first Test against Pakistan, Cook equalled Allan Border's record for appearing in the greatest number of consecutive Test matches, with 153, surpassing it a week later in the second Test at Headingley.

On 3 September 2018, Cook announced that his twelve-year international career would end at the conclusion of the series against India on 11 September 2018.

He announced the end of his career as a professional cricketer in a statement on 13 October 2023.

Fellow former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote that "we will never see a batsman like Alastair Cook again" while cricket writer Scyld Berry wrote of "the four ways Alastair Cook stands out as England’s greatest... he embodied the virtues which English people traditionally value: stoicism, modesty and self-effacement, all tinged with humour."

In the 2019 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to cricket.

On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB.

Cook was born in Gloucester; his mother Stephanie is a teacher from Swansea, while his father Graham worked as a telecommunications engineer and enjoyed village cricket.

Cook is a keen musician: by the age of eight he was learning the clarinet.

He became a boarding pupil at St Paul's Cathedral School in London, an independent school connected to the cathedral, as a chorister, with a rigorous schedule of rehearsals.

When he was a boy, his family lived in Wickham Bishops, a village near Witham in central Essex.

During his summer holidays, Cook played cricket for nearby Maldon Cricket Club, and by the age of 11 he was already playing in the adult Third XI.

He played sporadically for Maldon over seven years, with an average of 168 in his final year.

He is now an honorary life member of the club.

Aged 13, Cook's musical flair led to him to becoming a boarding pupil at Bedford School, an independent school for boys in the county town of Bedford.

He sang, played the clarinet to grade eight and learned to play piano and saxophone.

Music was soon eclipsed when the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) came to play against the Bedford School XI.

The visiting side were a man short and drafted the 14-year-old new boy to play against his school, and Cook scored a century.

Over the next four years, he hit 17 centuries and two double-hundreds to total 4,396 runs at an average of 87.90, captaining the cricket team in his final year under coach Jeremy 'Boris' Farrell, as well as being President of the Music Society.

He also gained three A-Levels and nine GCSEs.