Sir Alastair Nathan Cook (born 25 December 1984) is an English commentator and a former cricketer and captain of the England Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricket teams. Known for his compact technique and ability to bat for long periods, Cook is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of his era and one of the greatest opening batsman of all time. He is the sixth-highest Test run scorer of all time and second-highest run scorer for England. He is England's second most-capped Test batsman and captained the England team in 59 Tests, as well as in 69 ODIs. He was also the youngest player to score 12,000 test runs. Cook retired from Test cricket in September 2018 and played for Essex in English domestic cricket until 2023, while also working for the BBC radio programme Test Match Special.
Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003. He played in several of England's youth teams from 2000 until his call up to the Test team in 2006. Cook was called up to the England national team in India as a last-minute replacement for Marcus Trescothick and debuted, aged 21, with a century. He went on to score 1,000 runs in his maiden year and made centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh.
Cook was appointed captain of the Test team after Andrew Strauss's retirement on 29 August 2012. After England's 2016 tour of Bangladesh and India, he stepped down as Test captain. Cook retired from international cricket after the 2018 series against India, and from all forms of cricket in October 2023. Cook was appointed MBE in 2011 and promoted to CBE in 2016 for services to cricket. In the 2019 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to cricket. On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, Cook was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB. In 2023, Cook was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Cook was born in Gloucester; his mother Stephanie is a teacher from Swansea, while his father Graham worked as a telecommunications engineer and enjoyed village cricket. Cook is a keen musician: by the age of eight he was learning the clarinet. He became a boarding pupil at St Paul's Cathedral School in London, an independent school connected to the cathedral, as a chorister, with a rigorous schedule of rehearsals.
When he was a boy, his family lived in Wickham Bishops, a village near Witham in central Essex. During his summer holidays, Cook played cricket for nearby Maldon Cricket Club, and by the age of 11 he was already playing in the adult Third XI. He played sporadically for Maldon over seven years, with an average of 168 in his final year. He is now an honorary life member of the club.
Aged 13, Cook's musical flair led him to become a boarding pupil at Bedford School, an independent school for boys in the county town of Bedford. He sang, played the clarinet to grade eight and learned to play piano and saxophone. Music was soon eclipsed when the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) came to play against the Bedford School XI. The visiting team were a man short and drafted the 14-year-old new boy to play against his school, and Cook scored a century.
Over the next four years, he hit 17 centuries and two double-hundreds to total 4,396 runs at an average of 87.90, captaining the cricket team in his final year as well as being President of the Music Society. He also gained three A-Levels and nine GCSEs. In his final year at Bedford in 2003, he scored 1,287 runs for the school, including two unbeaten double-hundreds, averaging 160.87 to take the school record. After his international success, Cook returned for an Old Boys' match at Bedford in 2008, playing for the Head Master's Ultimate XI.
Having been a member of the Essex Academy since the age of 16, Cook was given his first-class debut for Essex against Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club on leaving school at the end of the 2003 season; put in to field he aided the first dismissal with a catch before scoring just 13 runs in his first innings but pushed Essex to a nine wicket victory with 69 not out in the second. Despite Essex's relegation being assured, Cook still battled away with an opening stand of 122 opposite Will Jefferson in the second innings of his second match, against Warwickshire. In the six innings in which he participated he quickly racked up three half centuries at an average of 47.80.
Having secured his place as opener in the county team, he made his maiden first-class century against Leicestershire in May 2004 with 126 opposite Jefferson's 128 in an opening stand of 265, Essex's third-highest, but the team failed to secure promotion. He was brought in as opening batsman for the MCC in 2005 season's opener against County Champions Warwickshire. With a century in the first innings and 97 in the second, Cook helped secure victory in a match destined for a draw. The season opener would not be Cook's only highlight for the year: as the Ashes approached, Australia were touring the counties and in a two-day match (which did not count towards his first-class statistics) Cook scored a double century and went on to take the first wicket of Justin Langer with a catch in the drawn match days after being awarded PCA Young Cricketer of the Year.
A further highlight of the season saw Cook help Essex to achieve one of Durham's two defeats of the season, scoring 107 of Essex's 245 before taking his maiden first-class wicket, followed by another two, with his off-spin. Cook played in every first-class match for Essex and also helped them clinch the Totesport League Title for the first time in 20 years. The end of the season saw Cook finish with an average of 48.03 in the County Championship, hitting four centuries.
After his England call up, Cook's appearances at Essex significantly reduced. In the County Championship he appeared in only three matches, making two hundreds and another two fifties in his five innings, topping the season averages with an inflated 141.3. Similarly in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy he appeared only three times and again topped the batting averages, only being out once with a top score of 91 and average of 148. He scored less favourably in his one Twenty20 Cup appearance, scoring only nine runs.
In the 2007 season, for Essex alone his first-class average was only 58.8 from three appearances, making two hundreds but countering this with one duck and he made a similar century/duck appearance in the (formerly C&G) Friends Provident Trophy during his 5 matches averaging 38.4.
The back to back Totesport/Pro40 champions saw Cook make only one appearance in that competition, scoring 81 not out, before being relegated. They won Division Two and were promoted the following season, though Cook only provided 11 runs in one innings during the tournament.
Despite his international commitments Cook managed to participate in at least one match of each tournament averaging 36.16 in three County Championship matches and 15 in his one Twenty20 match. Given time off the South Africa One-Day series, Cook fared better in the FP Trophy with 45.3 from 3 matches including contributing the second-highest in the final at Lord's to seal the trophy.
The 2009 English season featured an early Test series against the West Indies where, despite being in the Test team, Cook joined Essex in a tour match. He scored 76 not out in the second innings before the match was rained off, stopping Essex pressing for victory.
Before the Test series, he helped Essex force the follow on against Kent in the County Championship but faltered with his team, scoring only 4 in the second innings to lose by 192 runs.
After the Test series, Cook was omitted from the one day team leaving him free to play for Essex. He joined them in their bid to defend their Friends Provident Trophy matching Varun Chopra's 65 in a 124 run partnership against Lancashire to gain a place in the semi-final. He and his team could not recreate the same form for the semi-final, at the same location against the same team three days later, after being caught from a running catch by Sajid Mahmood, seeing the team lose by 67 runs. Having been knocked out of the FP Trophy, the team turned to the Twenty20 Cup. Making only his fourth appearance in the tournament since 2005, Cook hit 80 off 56 balls in a match against Kent that was rained off.