13-10-2023, 17:45
End of an era as Captain Cook calls time on a 20-year career, bowing out on 26,643 first-class runs, 55 short of Golden Age hero Gilbert Jessop and 15 above Essex legend Ken McEwan. By my reckoning, that now leaves Cheteshwar Pujara on 19.5k as the top dog of current batsmen. All the best Cooky, a true gentleman of the game, and a player who'll comfortably rank alongside Hobbs or Boycott in the pantheon of England openers for posterity.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley