Alastair Cook Retires from International Cricket

[cnerd123]

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/844187

The fifth Test against India this series will be his last

Sad news, but expected. Great player, been a great servant to English cricket, will be missed.

 

[StephenZA]

Well there goes half the discussions in the Eng threads in the.....



....great player. Wish him luck.

 

[ImpatientLime]

alongside Thorpe the greatest modern era player of spin England have produced.

Captained England to series wins in South Africa and India.

That 10/11 series where he flayed the Aussies

Bloke has been a colossal presence

 

[Starfighter]

His 235* was the first really big innings that I saw and paid attention to. He just seemed to bat forever, and left plenty more impressions over the course of that summer.

 

[SeamUp]

We've been calling his time is coming. I think he has chosen the right time. I appreciate your talents of absorbing pressure and spending time at the crease. All the best Cooky.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Been terrible for a while so not unexpected.

Amazing player of spin. 2012 series win in India one of the greatest ever achievements by an England player.

 

[_Ed_]

Not unexpected, but still sad to hear - he's been my favourite England player for most of his career. Hard to imagine the team without him opening their innings.

 

[andmark]

Magnificent cricketer. It was always morbidly amusing to watch him leave hundreds of deliveries, wearing the opposition down to get centuries. England have a big task in replacing him.

 

[Prince EWS]

It always just makes me feel old when players who I remember watching on debut in their late teens or early 20s retire after a full career.

That debut was perhaps quite fittingly in India, and I think anyone who watched it and was forced to make a guess as to how his career would go and what sort of player he'd become afterwards would've made a pretty accurate prediction. He made a fifty and an unbeaten ton, both really slowly on a slow road that ended in a draw, but it was his unwavering concentration and immediate ease of adaptation to alien conditions that really stood out from such a young man on debut, and these were features of his both his batting and his captaincy right throughout his career.

I don't usually like commenting on the timing of retirements, as I think players should retire when they don't want to play anymore and not assume the role of selectors, but certainly I think he's at a point where he was unlikely to add much value if he was to continue to play and be selected in Tests -- the only good argument against this being the relatively bare cupboard of English openers and the fact that his partner is probably even worse than the current version of him.

 

[morgieb]

Not super unexpected, but still a blow all the same.

Will be remembered for being probably the key player in England's two biggest overseas successes in modern history.

 

[vcs]

Sachin's aggregate records are probably going to be safe for a while.

Cook was a great player, and a really likable guy too.

 

[Cabinet96]

Not as sad as I thought I'd be. The writing has just so clearly been on the wall all summer and it's depressing to watch. I am a bit disappointed he's been so rubbish this year though. He actually had a good summer last year, and you can somewhat understand a poor Ashes series given the calibre of the opposition. This has just been a new level of direness though.

 

[Burgey]

Terrific player and never one to cause any on or off field dramas (that I know of anyway).

Go well Cooky. Been an ornament.

 

[Flem274*]

i feel like we've spent his entire career wondering whether he's in form or not, even when he's just posted 200 million not out.

probably the best opening batsman of my watching time, and i saw sehwag, hayden, smith and mcintosh. his ability to rack them up anywhere and everywhere was vital to his team reaching the heights it did and for masking the deficiencies when they were a bit less good.

 

[Heboric]

It always just makes me feel old when players who I remember watching on debut in their late teens or early 20s retire after a full career.

That debut was perhaps quite fittingly in India, and I think anyone who watched it and was forced to make a guess as to how his career would go and what sort of player he'd become afterwards would've made a pretty accurate prediction. He made a fifty and an unbeaten ton, both really slowly on a slow road that ended in a draw, but it was his unwavering concentration and immediate ease of adaptation to alien conditions that really stood out from such a young man on debut, and these were features of his both his batting and his captaincy right throughout his career.

I don't usually like commenting on the timing of retirements, as I think players should retire when they don't want to play anymore and not assume the role of selectors, but certainly I think he's at a point where he was unlikely to add much value if he was to continue to play and be selected in Tests -- the only good argument against this being the relatively bare cupboard of English openers and the fact that his partner is probably even worse than the current version of him.

Well there is 'worse' case, watching the son debut (albeit at u19 level) of a player who you also watched on debut

 

[vic_orthdox]

https://twitter.com/CricProf/status/1036589130984173569

Does a good job of putting his career in perspective, especially batting in home conditions.

 

[the big bambino]

i feel like we've spent his entire career wondering whether he's in form or not, even when he's just posted 200 million not out.

probably the best opening batsman of my watching time, and i saw sehwag, hayden, smith and mcintosh. his ability to rack them up anywhere and everywhere was vital to his team reaching the heights it did and for masking the deficiencies when they were a bit less good.

Never saw enough of him and I suspect no one else did either. Ideally Cook would've targeted winning back the ashes as the time to retire but his form this season has convinced him he no longer has the ability for test matches.

 

[Borges]

Played the game with an immense amount of dignity; a great player in the true sense of the word. To me, greater than many others who achieved even more. All the best, Cook.

 

[mr_mister]

Bit sad he's gonna end up averaging sub 45, deserves better

 

[trundler]

I hope he can flay India one more time. The timing seems about right too. Great player who will be remembered for a long time.