The matches that made a record-breaker

Test No. 1 – Debut century at Nagpur One hundred and two cricketers have made a century on Test debut, including ten Englishmen since the Second World War. But few have given such definitive proof of their poise and purpose as Cook, England’s emergency replacement on the tour of India in 2005-06. After Marcus Trescothick’s breakdown on the eve of the first Test, and at the age of 21 and with no acclimatisation whatsoever, Cook brushed off the effects of 24-hour, multi-transfer, journey from Antigua to Nagpur to make 60 and 104 not out. All told, he batted for nine and a half hours in the match against an India attack boasting two of their greatest spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Test No. 6 – Maiden home Test hundred Trescothick’s return in the summer of 2006 forced Cook to bed in at No. 3 in the short term, but he scarcely missed a beat in his first full season as an England batsman. At Lord’s in May, he missed out on his second Test century when he fell for 89 against Sri Lanka. But two months later, he made no mistake at the same venue, etching his name on the honours board for the first of what is now four occasions and counting. For good measure, he followed up with his third century, 127, in the next match at Old Trafford.

Test No. 12 – First Ashes hundred If India had been a steep learning curve, then it was nothing compared to the winter of 2006-07, when Cook was thrust into the front line to withstand Australia’s Ashes vengeance mission. Restored to the top of the order, he encountered Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne still smarting from the events of 2005, and hell-bent on setting the record straight before waltzing into retirement. Unsurprisingly, he struggled, particularly outside off stump where his judgment was challenged mercilessly by the metronomic brutality of McGrath and Stuart Clark. But, with the Ashes all but surrendered as England chased 557 in the second innings at Perth, Cook knuckled down on the eve of his 22nd birthday to make 116 from 290 balls. It couldn’t save the day in the short term, but it laid a notable marker for events further down the line…

Test No. 24 – Face-saving hundred in Galle Things would get worse before they got much better for England’s chastened cricketers. A home series loss against India was swiftly followed by a capitulation in Sri Lanka where, with the series level going into the third Test at Galle, they collapsed to 81 all out in reply to the home side’s 499, and inevitable defeat. Nevertheless, Cook’s bloodymindedness came bubbling to the fore in the follow-on, as he dug in against Muttiah Muralitharan to make a six-and-a-half hour 118. It wasn’t enough to impress certain members of England’s travelling support, who draped a banner over the walls of the historic Galle Fort to declare “England: Hang Your Heads in Shame”. But Cook, at least, was able to fly home to celebrate his 23rd birthday with his own held high.

Test Nos. 25-36 – The summer of sixties By the end of 2008, it was clear that Cook was a prodigy with purpose. In New Zealand in March he had become the youngest England batsman to reach 2000 Test runs (at the age of 23 years and two months) but for the rest of that year he seemed to hit something of a plateau – in the entire calendar year, he made eight fifties in 21 innings (an impressive effort), but had been unable to convert any of them to three figures. With scores of 60, 61, 60, 60, 76, 67, 52 and 50, it was time to turn to his mentor Graham Gooch, with whom he began working on the technical changes that he believed he needed to take his game to the next level.

Test No. 43 – Wisden Trophy regained Cook broke his centuries drought with an eighth Test hundred against West Indies in Bridgetown, but given that the match had featured 1349 runs across its first two innings, including 291 for Ramnaresh Sarwan, his second-innings game-killer wasn’t much to write home about. Of greater significance, however, was his career-best 160 at Chester-le-Street two months later. After England’s shock surrendering of the Wisden Trophy in the Caribbean, courtesy of their 51 all out in the first Test at Sabina Park, Cook’s innings set up a pummelling innings win, and a 2-0 series victory, against a dispirited opposition.

Test No. 50 – Innings win in Durban Cook played a low-key role in England’s home Ashes win – his most significant contribution was a first-day 95 in the second Test when, in harness with Andrew Strauss, he took full toll of Mitchell Johnson’s stage fright to set up England’s first win against Australia at Lord’s for 75 years. But in Durban later that year, he was back to his obdurate best. Fresh from celebrating his 25th …

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