England won the Test series against India comfortably by 4-1. It was a memorable series for many English players as they achieved some personal milestones.
Opener Alastair Cook quit Test cricket with a remarkable performance while fast bowler James Anderson became the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers. He surpassed former Australian great Glenn McGrath’s 563 wickets in his 143rd Test.
After the fourth Test against India, Cook announced that the fifth and last Test at The Oval would be his last appearance in international cricket. He made his last Test memorable with a fifty in the first innings and a century in the second. For these performances and many that he had given before, he received an standing ovation from almost everyone present at the venue. The century was his 33rd in Test cricket.
Praising the retiring opener, skipper Joe Root said that there would never be another Alastair Cook.
Cook was the fifth batsman in Test history to score centuries in their debut and final Tests. Before him only Bill Ponsford, Reggie Duff, Greg Chappell and Mohammad Azharuddin had done so.
Cook left the game with more runs, appearances and catches (apart from keepers) than any other England player.
Overall Cook is the fifth highest run-getter in Test cricket with 12,472 runs. Only Tendulkar (15,921), Pointing (13,378), Kallis (13,289) and Dravid (13,288) are ahead of him. During his last innings he surpassed Sangakkara’s total of 12,400. Cook is the only left-handed batsmen to have scored over 10,000 Test runs as an opener.
Cook (161) is seventh in the list of most Test matches played by any player. Only Tendulkar (200), Ponting (168), Steve Waugh (168), Kallis (166), Chanderpaul (164) and Dravid (164) played more matches than he did.
As far as centuries are concerned cook is on 10th position with 33 hundreds. Again Sachin Tendulkar is on top with 51 centuries. Behind him is Kallis (45), Ponting (41), Sangakkara (38), Dravid (36), Younis Khan (34), Gavaskar (34), Lara (34) and Mahela Jayawardene (34). He scored 15 centuries while batting second, the highest.
Cook’s 147 in his final innings was the highest by any batsman in the second innings of his final Test.
Cook’s best period was between 2009 and 2012 during which he scored 16 hundreds in 51 Tests, averaging 55.28. His aggregate of 4423 was the best in that period.
In September 2011, Cook achieved a career-high second ranking when he scored his Test best 294 against India at Edgbaston. In the same year Cook won the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award.
Cook was also named in the ICC Test Team of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 (as captain). He was also included in the ICC ODI Team of the Year in 2012, the year in which he reached his career-best fifth position in ODIs in June.
English batsmen mostly struggle on Asian pitches, but Cook’s performance in Asia was remarkable. His 2,710 runs in 28 Tests in Asia is the highest from a non-Asian batsman. His average in Asia was over 53. He scored nine hundred and 11 fifties in this region.
Without performing well against arch-rivals Australia, any English player can’t be proud of his achievements. Overall, Cook is one of 12 England batsmen to score 2000-plus runs in Ashes Tests. He played 35 Tests against Australia, scored 2493 runs at an average of 40.20, including five hundred and eleven fifties. On the 2010-11 tour, he scored 766 runs in seven innings.
The series against India was also memorable for fast Bowler James Anderson. Taking the last wicket of the series, Anderson surpassed former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath’s record of 562 wickets and became the most successful fast bowler ever.
Only Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (708) and Anil Kumble (619) have taken more wickets than he has.
Anderson nicknamed the ‘Burnley Express’ made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003 at the age of 20.
In his first appearance he took five wickets in the first innings. Anderson performed against all leading batsmen. He dismissed former Indian great Sachin Tendulkar as many as nine times in 14 matches.
Anderson has played a significant part in four Ashes series wins for England. He has taken 104 wickets against Australia in 31 matches, averaging 34.55.