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Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:25 am
by sussexpob
braveneutral wrote:A CBE says otherwise.


You think he will start being as to be referred to as the commander

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 5:18 pm
by meninblue
365notout wrote:Alastair Cook 10,000 Test match runs:

- 12th batsman (all countries)
- 1st Englishman
- Youngest to reach the milestone

But will he be considered an England great?



There are only 10 batsmen who have scored more runs than him, which is a great achievement in itself with plenty years left ahead considering that he is a specialist batsmen. He could beat Sachin's test runs overall and be the worlds top test run scorer by end of his career. Another high probability is that he will get in the top 6 in next two years.

I think he is also statistically England's best test batsman in India which shows that he plays spin better than all other English players. I haven't seen any better English batsman than him who has toured our country. The innings he played on that tour of India when England won 3-1 were some of the top class test knocks.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:44 pm
by braveneutral
sussexpob wrote:
braveneutral wrote:A CBE says otherwise.


You think he will start being as to be referred to as the commander

ECB propagandists would love that.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:23 pm
by meninblue
At one point of time, there were two batters who could break Sachin's record : Clarke and Cook. Clarke has retired and now Cook is the only one who looks likely to break Sachin's test records.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:30 pm
by sussexpob
I dont think Cook will play on much longer.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:34 pm
by meninblue
sussexpob wrote:I dont think Cook will play on much longer.


Cook is just over 33 years. As a specialist batsman and especially having a good history of not getting injured, he may well play 7 years, which imo are enough for him to score the 3916 runs.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:36 pm
by sussexpob
Adi wrote:
sussexpob wrote:I dont think Cook will play on much longer.


Cook is just over 33 years. As a specialist batsman and especially having a good history of not getting injured, he may well play 7 years, which imo are enough for him to score the 3916 runs.


I just get the feeling there isnt the fire in him to play on. The stint as captain seems to have dented his desire somewhat, which I think is personally understandable.

Id be surprised if he was in the team by 2020. I can see him retiring at the end of next summer personally.

Obviously just guesswork. He may well play on and on, I just dont see it.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:47 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Every time England have a bad tour, with a player who has been going as long as him, you wonder if that will be it.

Seven years feels an awful lot of cricket and travelling. And dumps him into middle age just as his career ends.

It means playing in empty stadiums in Trinidad or Dunedin trying to find motivation to go on.

It means spending time on the road with players half your age.

Only cricket monomaniacs like Boycott put themselves through that. And if Cook doesn't have the drive to score runs and win, he doesn't have any genius or even method to fall back on.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:55 pm
by meninblue
Arthur Crabtree wrote:Every time England have a bad tour, with a player who has been going as long as him, you wonder if that will be it.

Seven years feels an awful lot of cricket and travelling. And dumps him into middle age just as his career ends.

It means playing in empty stadiums in Trinidad or Dunedin trying to find motivation to go on.

It means spending time on the road with players half your age.

Only cricket monomaniacs like Boycott put themselves through that. And if Cook doesn't have the drive to score runs and win, he doesn't have any genius or even method to fall back on.



Cook is no more part of ODI. Neither is he selected in T20I nor in Global T20 leagues. Whereas Sachin played all formats (tests, ODI, T20I) as well as IPL. Sachin used to bowl as well. So Cook in comparison has a relatively very less workload and can manage his rest better than Sachin could in his career. That makes me feel that Cook will also play until late 40's if he wants to. Surely breaking the record of Sachin is an opportunity which only rare batsmen could have a dream about (Clarke and Cook himself). Nobody else has come so close. The opportunity to break records of legend of the game in itself could be a motivation.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:10 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
True, it would be even worse if he was playing multiformats.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:55 pm
by sussexpob
How many modern day captains who took charge for at least 3-4 years, made it past 35 in the game? Ponting did, but his average plummets for the last 4 years of his career into the mid 30s, and that is an average itself based on a few flat track scores that prop it up. When he quit the captaincy coming into his mid 30s, he was arguably done already. Smith, Fleming, Dhoni, Strauss.... none of them made it past 35, Smith was done not much past 30, as was Dhoni.

Cook had a hugely challenging era to work under, and Id be surprised if he retained his love for playing through that. I think it tells that his career is turning into failures mixed with big efforts, and nothing in between. When he looks a bit fresher and more into it, he still has it. But he doesnt seem to have that energy to be consistent.

So yeah. Id expect he retires soon. I mean, who would want to be involved with this shower of shite a minute longer.

Sachin is not the rule, he is very much the exception.

Re: Alistair Cook - Under rated?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:54 am
by meninblue
sussexpob wrote:How many modern day captains who took charge for at least 3-4 years, made it past 35 in the game? Ponting did, but his average plummets for the last 4 years of his career into the mid 30s, and that is an average itself based on a few flat track scores that prop it up. When he quit the captaincy coming into his mid 30s, he was arguably done already. Smith, Fleming, Dhoni, Strauss.... none of them made it past 35, Smith was done not much past 30, as was Dhoni.

Cook had a hugely challenging era to work under, and Id be surprised if he retained his love for playing through that. I think it tells that his career is turning into failures mixed with big efforts, and nothing in between. When he looks a bit fresher and more into it, he still has it. But he doesnt seem to have that energy to be consistent.

So yeah. Id expect he retires soon. I mean, who would want to be involved with this shower of shite a minute longer.

Sachin is not the rule, he is very much the exception.


I don't think it will matter to Cook's career when other cricketers who were captains have retired. What imo is more relevant is that whether he can take the workload in the next 7 years.

Sangakkara, Younis , Rahul, Ponting, Mahela, Sachin, Saurav, Kallis, Shoiab Malik, Lara have all retired in range of 37 - 41 years - some inspite of playing multiple formats and more matches than Cook. Dhoni is not yet retired. He is almost 37 and yet he plays the ODI and T20 as well as IPL even though he was permanent wicket-keeper for us in all formats of game. Clarke's retirement was exception as he had recurring back injuries.

Cook has played less ODI cricket than all of them. Haven't checked the ODI matches played but i am sure that Sachin, Saurav, Dhoni, Kallis, Sanga, Mahela, Ponting, Shoaib have all played more than doubole the ODI annd in some cases also double the T20i or T20 that Cook has played. Whereas Cook since last years or so is a test specialist batsman. Plays no other formats. As i mentioned in one of the post above, he has hardly any injury problems like some of those who were their countries top players had. Also he is the kind of player like Sanga, Younis, Rahul, Sachin, Saurav Kallis etc who is the best test batsman of the country for most part of their careers and will get to decide on his retirement due to his better quality. Most star players will play and retire late unless offcourse they have a very bad history of injuries or some major disciplinary issues etc.

My opinion is that Cook's workload is relatively very less than what the players of his class or star performers of other teams have taken. I don't recollect any best player of their country playing so less of other formats retire at 33. Michael Clarke was an exception due to recurring back injuries. Even if Cook does not takes as much workload as some top players of other countries, even then he will play till late 30's. If he actually shows that he can take workload like those he will play even an year or two more than those players because he has played a lot lesser matches than others across all formats.