Alastair Cook reflects back to his retirement Alastair Cook has been considering retirement for 6 months yet says he cried as he told England team-mates he was to retire from international cricket.
After the final Test against India, which starts on Friday, the 33year-old opener will step down from England duty. He averages 18.62 in 2018, said he had lost his “mental edge”. On Sunday, he told his team that: “I was a couple of beers in, otherwise I would have cried more than I actually did. At the end of the game I said, ‘It might be good news, it might be sad for some, it might be happy for others, but it’s time and I have done my bit. I will play one more game’. “There was a little bit of silence, then Mo [Ali] said something, everybody laughed and it was forgotten about.” Cook told captain Joe Root before the fourth Test at Southampton
– which England won to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series – and informed head coach Trevor Bayliss during the game. He said: “Over the last six months there have been signs in my mind this was going to happen. I had always been mentally tough and had that edge to everything I’ve done – and that edge had kind of gone.” Cook has scored 12,254 runs and made 32 centuries in 160 Tests – all England records. He said: “I can look back and say I became the best player I could have become and that means a lot to me. I was never the most talented cricketer, but I definitely got everything out of my ability.” Cook said the fallout from Kevin Pietersen’s sacking in 2014 after the 5-0 Ashes defeat was among the lowest periods of his England career. In 2015, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director of cricket Andrew Strauss said Pietersen would not be considered for selection. Cook said: “The KP affair was a tough year. I was involved in a decision without being the bloke who made the final decision. It could have been handled differently. The moment when Strauss came on board and said he made the decision was the best thing that happened. There is regret over it – it wasn’t great for English cricket.” Cook struggled for form during 2014 and survived calls for him to be replaced as captain before leading England to a home Ashes win the following summer. He added: “When it was tough I didn’t throw the towel in. I was the best man for the job.”….Read more