Does anyone think he could get to say 50 at Test match level. He's been playing about seven years so far since joining the England team. Because for a England player that's still only 28 he's got little still to do. He's been in a team that's got to become Number one in the world in both ODI and Test cricket. Beat Australia home and Away. Beat India home and Away. Closing in on the 8,900 runs of Graham Gooch. To join the greats he's going to have to get to 12,000 runs minimum which will put him in between Lara on just shy of 12000 runs and Kallis who's just over 13000 runs so far. And a One day Trophy would be good too.
He could do, it'll be tough but he could play at the top another 7 or 8 years so you never know..what ever happens he'll go down as an all time great for England.
But will been one of the greatest for England keep him motivated? 8900 of Gooch isn't much. at 28 he's scored more 100's than anyone. Be interesting to see what he does in the next few years. Hopefully Root can chase him and keep him hungry.
Great player and will break records - take some beating to finish with an average of 99.98 in test cricket
Re: Good day for a spot of fishing Easier for the batsmen now anyway than it was years ago so average isn't a way of gauging how good a batsman is - yes I know I mentioned the average above but that will never be beaten
I think he should retire now. Now he has single handedly proven that cricket before you were born was crap. Nothing left to strive for. Get your feet up Alastair, you're just too good.
Cook has been a great player. No doubt. But the standard of cricket these days is poor. IMO of course. When I was a lad, you had Warne in his pomp, McGrath and a young Brett Lee. The Windies with Ambrose and Walsh. You just don't see bowlers like that anymore. Plus, the likes of Cook play a lot more matches than their 80's counterparts. Gooch over Cook for me. And that's no slight on Ali. Just as I preferred Gough to Anderson.
Seriously though, it would be interesting to see how Cook would have coped with Thompson and Lillee bowling at him all day, or Garner / Roberts / Holding. There is nothing that has compared with those front-line attacks since them.
Brett lee? Haha nice one. Gooch admits Cooks a better player than him and has said so for a long time. And I think even gough would laugh at him been better than James Anderson. I think Ali needs a target. I think 50 hundred will do it. Hopefully he can stay fit and reach that. I think KP will reach 30 hundreds too. You mention Brett lee as a good bowler. KP always says he was never worried by him or any of the Aussies. The only real one to scare him was Edwards of WI in 2007ish
I mentioned "when I was a lad", I didn't refer to the veteran Brett Lee. Anyway, I'm not getting into another argument with you because you refuse to accept that sport went on before you started watching it. This is the best England side (the last 5 or so years) I've seen in my lifetime (that's 31 years). So there you go. But the standard of cricket was better in the late 80's and early 90's. In my opinion. I like Anderson, but I preferred Gough. I like Cook, but I preferred Gooch. And nobody does facial hair these days like Merv Hughes.
I'm just saying what I've read listened to. I think the England batsman would prefer to play Warne to Ajmal who they just can't pick.