Alastair Cook – The Birthday Boy - Opinion
The standards of batting have surely jumped up some notches over the last couple of decades due to various reasons like better pitches, improved batting equipments, deteriorating quality of fast bowlers and modern coaching techniques. The likes of Sachin
Tendulkar, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 have ruled the cricketing world in the previous years through some breathtaking stroke-play.
There are many outstanding batsmen in the present-day sport like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026, when they are asked about the top batsmen in world-cricket
these days.
England’s Test and One Day International (ODI) skipper, who has turned 28 today, made his Test debut in 2006 during the tour of India.
Cook has emerged as one of the world’s finest opening batsmen over the last couple of years. The left-hander immediately cemented his place in the Test team in 2006 but he has raised his game to a different level since the Ashes 2010-11, where the left-hander
scored 766 runs in just seven innings, with the help of three centuries and a couple of fifties to be named as the Player of the Series.
Cook was handed over the England captaincy after Andrew Strauss’ retirement from competitive sport, following the Poms’ failure to retain the number one Test ranking against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 grabbed the opportunity
with both hands and motivated his side to deliver the goods in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, with the left-hander leading from the front, scoring three consecutive hundreds in the first three Tests.
England’s batting coach, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-Alan-Gooch-c60530, feels that the extra responsibility of captaincy has taken the best out of Cook, who seems to have matured in his very first tour as the official captain of the Test team. The former captain believes
that the 28-year-old batsman is a genuine match-winner.
He expressed, “Captaincy has enhanced his run scoring already. He's mastered his art to a degree and is always looking to improve. If he delivers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 win matches.”
Gooch however, alarmed the bowlers all around the world by saying that Cook’s best is yet to come and said that no one can stop the left-hander to achieve great feats, if he remains fit and hungry for runs.
“In my opinion,” Gooch said. “The years between 27 to 35 are the best years for a batsman because you have honed your knowledge and you know your game. I think he's got his best years in front of him. He's got to stay fit and motivated but nothing at the
moment would suggest to me that that won't happen. I hope to hang on in this job until he goes past my record.”
Cook presently has more than seven thousand runs in Test cricket and with many years of international cricket ahead of him, one should not be surprised to see the opening batsman end at about 15 thousand runs. England are lucky to have his services, as Cook
has also solved their captaincy problems for many years to come.
With the kind of performances Cook has shown over the past 24 months, the gutsy left-handed batsman deserves a lot more credit than he is currently getting. He is surely one of the best players in international cricket at the moment, whose hunger for runs
has amazed a huge number of cricket pundits.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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