THE LEGEND OF SIR COOK

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo. 

Venue- The Gabba, Brisbane [November, 2010].

On 13th October, 2023 Sir Alastair Cook announced his retirement from professional cricket.  He retired from international cricket in September 2018 itself, but continued playing for his county. Eventually he decided to bid good bye to the gentlemen's game which he has been playing for decades. Sir Cook is indeed one of the greatest batsmen English Cricket has ever produced. We need not sing praises for him because his stats justifies his stature. 

There are innumerable occasions where Chef rescued his team. But for the author his most iconic knock will be the one played in the summers of Australia at the venue they call a Fortress. Yes you got it right. In this blog I will be talking about his marathon knock at the Gabba. The knock which set tone for England throughout the series. 

In the Australian Summer of 2010-11, English Cricket Team toured Australia to defend their Ashes title. The first test of the series took place at the Gabba. The venue where Austrasia has the best record in recent years. English Captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat first. However the visitors were shocked in the first over itself as Ben Hilfenhaus dismissed Strauss for a duck in just 3rd delivery of the game. England were in all sorts of trouble, but then Sir Cook along with fellow English Batsmen stitched a few partnerships which brought back the visitors in the game. After 65 overs England were about to reach the 200 runs mark for the loss of 4 wickets. Sir Cook was batting on 67, but this is when Peter Siddle turned the game upside down. Peter Siddle took a hat trick on his birthday and in no time England were reduced to 197/7. Due to this spell the visitors were eventually bowled out for 260 runs in their first innings as Peter Siddle ended up with 6 wickets for 54 runs.

In response the Aussies scored 481 in their first innings. Mike Hussey scored a brilliant 195, whereas Brad Haddin scored a gritty 136. At one stage the Aussie scorecard read 143/5. However a 307 runs stand between Hussey and Haddin turned the course of the game. For the visitors' Steven Finn was the leading wicket taker as he ended with a figure of 6-125. 

The English were 221 runs behind the Aussie total. The Aussies were in command of the game, A defeat in the first test would have literally derailed the English expectations from the tour. Amidst such pressure Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook came in to bat. And Boy! What an exhibition it turned out to be. With their opening partnership of 188 runs, Strauss (110) and Cook (235 not out) set a record for England at the Gabba and surpassed Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe as the country's highest-scoring opening batsman. After that, Jonathan Trott (136 not out) and Cook shared an undefeated 329-run partnership till England declared on 1/517. Furthermore Don Bradman's record for the highest Test score at the Gabba was too surpassed by Cook's score of 235 not out.

The test match eventually ended in a draw, but it was clear that this was a different English Team who have landed on the shores of Australia. 

[Postscript- Sir Cook eventually ended up scoring 766 runs in that Ashes series as England lifted the urn in Australia after 24 long years. Interestingly since the 2010-11 Ashes, England have struggled to win a test in Australia forget about the series. As a result the 3-1 win in the 2010-11 Ashes will always be remembered by the Cricket Fans.]

To watch the knock of Sir Cook, Click Here.