A thread on the test career of greatest English Opener Sir Alastair Cook.

The Debut

Coming up as a replacement to injured Marcus Trescothick, Cook aged 21 made his international debut on England's tour of India 2006.

He made an instant impact scoring a 50 in the 1st innings to be followed by an aggressive in the 2nd innings helping England draw.

This made him the sixteenth Englishman to score a century on his debut Test and an even more exclusive list to score 100 and 50 in their first Test. His hundred was also the 3,000th century in Test cricket.

Returning home, Cook was again selected for the first XI during Sri Lanka's tour. Batting at 3, he made an impressive 89 and got the first taste of victory in 2nd match guiding the team past the target of 78 in the second innings tackling a M Muralitharan who took 4-29.

On background of being the leading run scorer against Pakistan(403), Cook was all set for his first Ashes down under.

Australia whitewashed England 5-0 with Cook failing to impress in first 2 matches, however stayed at crease for 6 hours bringing his maiden Ashes (119).

This was Cook's fourth Test century before turning 22, no England player had scored more than two by the same age.

Also on 28 December 2006 in Melbourne, Cook scored his 1000th Test run, the second cricketer to do this in their maiden year, after Mark Taylor.

After scoring 3 50s and 2 in Wisden Trophy, Cook had an average series against India however,

During the first day of the second Test Cook became the youngest English player to rack up 1,500 Test runs eclipsing the record held by David Gower.

From there till 2009,Cook came under increasing criticism for his lack of ability to convert 50s to 100s at the top, yet maintained an average in the low 40s.

But, after 38 innings, Cook finally arrived at his 8th century, with an unbeaten 139 against West Indies.

After a failure in 1st test match of the Ashes 2009,Cook(95) bounced back in the second Test at Lord's, batting through to the afternoon session,to set up highest opening English partnership at Lord's (196) along with Strauss.

However he didn't contributed much thereafter.

Cook made his captaincy debut in the following series against South Africa which saw him loose the first match of the series, however he scored a brilliant 118 to win the test and drew that series.

In Bangladesh, he made his 4000th test run becoming the 2nd youngest to do so.

The 2010-11 Ashes saw Cook answering his critics in the best way possible.

Cook made 766 runs, was player of the series, won the Compton-Miller Medal, scored 196 more runs than 2nd highest Hussey throughout the series.

He brought his 5000 Test runs too helping England win 3-1

The 294 against India later in the English summer saw him taking England to the top of the test rankings with England hammering India 4-0.

In the winter of 2011-12, Cook made a classic 94 to drew a Test series in Sri Lanka 1-1.

After a failed 2-0 loss in South Africa, England toured India with Cook as captain.

With 3 centuries in the series, Cook played a central figure in England thumping India at home 2-1.

Also he scored 2 centuries against Bangladesh in 2 tests.

The 2013 home Ashes series marked Cook's first Ashes series as captain.

England won the series 3-0 with Cook making contributions in the 1st and 3rd test match of the series.

He took rest from the one-dayers along with several other players to keep himself fit for Return Ashes

Despite contributions from the bat, England was completely outplayed and suffered a 5-0 whitewash in the 2013-14 Ashes surrendering the urn.

Upon returning from Australia, Andy Flower resigned as coach abut Cook vowed to continue as captain despite questions being raised.

After loosing Test series at home against Sri Lanka, Cook came under severe scrutiny and pressure for the 2014 Indian Test series.

Making twin 50s in the 3rd Test and a 79 in final, Cook lead England to a 3-1 victory against India at home with his captaincy again being praised.

On 2015 tour of Windies, Cook bring up his first Test century in almost two years to help England draw the series 1-1.

However, Cook continued his resurgence against Blackcaps at home bringing up his 27 , 9000 Test runs and being leading run scorer in England Test history.

Cook won his second Ashes as captain in 2015, playing some critical knocks. With the Ashes won 3-2 , Cook was praised for his captaincy and he gave an emotional interview following the victory.

The next series Cook played the longest innings in English history facing 528 balls.

The Historical series.

Cook led England to their biggest overseas series victory since 2012 India against South Africa in 2015-16 winters where he himself made some useful contributions with the bat.

However the next few years he wasn't at his best prowess.

With not much contributions in the 2016 India tour, 2017-18 Ashes, 2018 Pakistan tour, Cook decided to hung up his boots after 2018 India series at home.

Cook made a score of 147 in 5th Test and in doing so became the 5th batsman to score a century in his first and last Test.

Cook Test Career Stats

Matches -161
Runs scored-12,472
Batting average-45.35
100s - 33
50s - 57
Top score -294
Wickets -1(Ishant Sharma)
Catches-175