When Alastair Cook Retires, He Will Leave The Scene Serenely

The obituaries on Alastair Cook’s career are already in circulation. Cook retired from international cricket in 2018. His commitment to the domestic scene with Essex over the last five years has kept a love of the game and the special camaraderie of teammates alive. All good things come to an end.

There might be a few more boundaries and one last walk back to the pavilion with bat raised after he walks off the field against Northamptonshire this week. When he does go, it won’t be the showbiz Stuart Broad-style send off. Sir Alastair is more Mike Atherton than Shane Warne in terms of body language and vocals.

Sources are plentiful that the former England captain and current Essex player is finally set to call it quits at the end of this season after 20 years at the top. Green pastures will no longer be centred on Chelmsford’s middle. Cook’s farm awaits.

The 38-year-old would like to leave the domestic scene without fuss. He is dedicated to the work. The animation of external whoops and hollers is superficial. In any case, it could be all too premature. It’s not over until that contract expires for good.

Whatever transpires in the next week or so, there are indisputable facts about ‘Chef’ that will be forever etched in English memories. His feats are not punctuated by flair. That’s not his bag. He is the stoic sort, the embodiment of the ‘over my dead body’ resilience that is rarely seen in Test match cricket today. He would not be opening bat in a Brendon McCullum side, but dynamics and outlooks change. He was the rock of retro Millennium England not the kind of rock star that Ben Stokes and his entertainment troupe are now looking for.

Cook’s reliability as an opening batsman shone through when the England team were less sure of themselves, although he was also a big part of the team reaching number one in the world in 2011. The top six were central to that, but the opening chapter is always the key. The groans about English cricket collapses very rarely centred around Graham Gooch’s favorite (cricketing) son. When Cook failed, he would work harder. He cared. A lot. He wasn’t demonstrative on the field, but he was the man for the trenches.

Look at the Test match runs he scored, all 12,472 of them. It put him fifth on the all-time list. He was the perfect cricket model without the dirt, either on or off the pitch. Playing 161 Test matches is an enormous achievement, the kind of longevity that is only built through total dedication. English cricket loved the granite Cook while others competed for the eye candy shot-making selection box.

Cook’s partnership with Andrew Strauss brought stability and calm at the top of the order. When Strauss retired from international cricket, Cook remained a fixture and England tried so many taxis off the rank that they ran out of road. In the six years he continued to open the batting after Strauss’s exit in 2012, Sir Alastair made 60 per cent of the runs at the top.

Some episodes are best forgotten. The crushing 5-0 Ashes defeat under his captaincy in 2013/14 was the culmination of a team broken both physically and mentally. Kevin Pietersen called into question Cook as skipper, suggesting that “ he was staring at his shoes while I was being told I would not be included in the England squads in the Caribbean or in the World T20.” It was never all about KP. Cook is a selfless man.

The former St Paul’s Cathedral chorister outlasted the fallouts and the firebrands in the team. James Anderson, who is still playing for England at the age of 40, wrote a glowing tribute on his colleague’s exit in The Sun. “He’s probably the most driven person I’ve ever met. His work ethic is phenomenal. He trains harder physically than anybody and works tirelessly in the nets. He is an incredible example to everyone and I include myself in that,” said the England pace bowler.

Some would take it easy after stepping away from the national team, but Cook has kept churning out the runs for his county as well. He admitted that it was a scary proposition to walk away from the game entirely. Cook relished the chance to play with his band of brothers at Essex, especially as they were still competing for trophies.

He scored over 900 runs in 2019 at an average of 45 to help his side to the Championship and was just under the 1,000 mark in 2022. The same consistency has eluded Cook in 2023, but his presence has been central in keeping Essex in the chase for the title again this year.

“I’ve always had that mental edge, I’ve always been mentally incredibly tough and had that edge to everything that I’ve done and that edge had kind of gone, “ Cook admitted after walking away from the Test arena. That edge appears to be drifting in the domestic scene with an average below 36 in 2023. Sportsmen tend to know when the game is up.

Cook’s legacy is safe and there will be no worries about gainful employment. He is an established member of the Test Match Special commentary box, taking the rough with the smooth in the same way he did in the middle.