Stats: Alastair Cook joins a rare list of players with a fifty in his final Test

Alastair Cook was determined to make it big in his last appearance for England as he made a gritty half-century on the first day of The Oval Test match. His recent form didn’t affect the performance of the left-hander who went on to score 71 off 190 balls and was finally dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah. He also became the first opener to score a fifty in this Test series as the opening batsmen of both the sides had a tough time in lasting long and converting their starts.

Cook’s Test career began against India in 2006 with the Englishman scoring 60 and an unbeaten 104 on his debut in Nagpur. By going past the 50-run mark in the ongoing Test, Cook became one of the 19 players to score fifty and more in the first and last Test match of his career against the same opposition. The last player before him to be part of this list was Australia’s Brad Hodge against the Windies.

The 33-year-old is only the second player to be on this list by scoring against India as West Indies’ Desmond Lewis scored the fifties in all the three Tests during his three-match career which were during the 1971 home series against India. If Alastair Cook can score another fifty in the 2nd innings, he will be only the 2nd player in the history of Test cricket to score 50+ in both the outings of first and last Test match of his career. South Africa’s Bruce Mitchell is the only player with this feat till date with both of them coming against England.

Haseeb Hameed, one of many opening partners of Cook could join this rare list as the young opener made two fifties in the Indian tour in 2016/17 which was his maiden International outing. Hameed scored a half-century in his 2nd innings of the first Test and one more in the 3rd Test match.

However, he returned home due to an injury and has been a failure with the bat in the domestic circuit since then. Hameed, however, has age behind him which could help him to make a comeback to the national team.

Players with 50+ scores in the first and the last Test match of career against same opposition:

(Stats as on September 7, 2018)

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.