Alastair Cook, the rock of the England batting, becomes the youngest to enter 10k club

Chester-le-Street was no different than Headingley for England. The home side cruised to a comfortable 9-wicket win over Sri Lanka to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test match Investec series. But, what made the 2nd Test more special was English skipper Alastair Cook’s wonderful achievement.

Aged 31 and 157 days, Alastair Cook became the youngest batsman to reach the 10,000 runs mark in Tests. With a nudge to the leg side and boundary, he finally reached the mark after a couple of nervous innings.

“It’s a very special moment for me,” Cook said. “You forget about all the hard times you have as a cricketer.”

The man he overtook to achieve the distinction was none other than greatest Test batsman of the modern era – Sachin Tendulkar, who previously held the record for 11 years after surpassing the five figures mark in 2005, aged 31 years, 326 days.

The record is very special for Cook due to its exclusiveness. It earned him an admission to the elite group which features Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Sunil Gavaskar, Jacques Kallis, Allan Border, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Steve Waugh.

It was clear that the tall left-hander was destined for great things, those who followed him right from the start of his career would agree. He made his debut just more than a decade ago against India in 2006, scoring 60 & 104* in the sweltering heat of Nagpur.

His immaculate temperament and immense concentration were on display. Unfortunately, he was ruled out of the next Test due to illness. But since then, he carried with the same zest and never missed any of the 128 Tests he played in his glittering career so far (this also is a record for an Englishman).

Cook, who is already hailed as a legendary cricketer, cultivated these qualities directly from his coach & mentor – Graham Gooch, one of England’s finest.

On-field or off-field, Alastair never exaggerates. Like a perfect English gentleman, he has always been calm and classy; thrives for perfection. His consistency and mature mannerisms made him a natural successor for the leadership role. In 2012, he succeeded Andre Strauss as England’s captain following Strauss’ retirement, and went on to lead England with great success, including Ashes wins in 2013 and 2015.

The burden of leadership never affected his penchant for run-scoring as he kept achieving small yet meaningful milestones. He became the fastest to reach 7000, 8000 and 9000 runs. He also surpassed Gooch’s tally of 8,900 Test runs at Headingley last May to become England’s leading run-scorer.

Former England captain Graham Gooch, who is rated ahead of Sir Jack Hobbs in terms of runs making, describes his protégé in his typical ‘Goochie’ way. “Anyone who interrupts my apple pie and custard on a Monday afternoon has to have done something special.”

Cook has several more years as an international cricketer left in him. He has already been in a race with Sachin Tendulkar in terms of amassing runs but whether he will break the all-time aggregate Test record of 15,921 runs made in 200 Tests remains to be seen.

Also check out – Poll: Can Alastair Cook breach the Tendulkar mark?