Cook joins select 'first and last Test hundred' club

LONDON: Alastair Cook became just the fifth player and first Englishman to score a hundred in both his first and last Tests when he made 147 against India at the Oval on Monday.

The 33-year-old opener, England´s all-time leading Test run-scorer, reached his hundred in an unusual fashion when an overthrow from Jasprit Bumrah that went to the boundary gave him a five after he had already completed a single on the fourth day of the fifth Test.

Together with Joe Root, his successor as England captain, Cook shared a third wicket stand of 259.

But a ball after Root was dismissed for 125, Cook was caught behind off part-time spinner Hanuma Vihari to leave England strongly placed at 321 for four in their second innings -- a lead of 361.

Cook batted for nearly six-and-a-half hours, facing 286 balls and hitting 14 fours.

The Essex left-haned opener, who is retiring from international cricket after this match, was the first batsman since India´s Mohammad Azharuddin in 2000 to score hundreds in both their first and last Test matches.

Below AFP Sport lists all the batsmen to have achieved the feat.

Hundreds in first and last Tests:

Reggie Duff (Australia)

Test debut: Australia v England, Melbourne 1902: 32 and 104

Last Test: England v Australia, The Oval 1905: 146 and DNB

Bill Ponsford (Australia)

Test debut: Australia v England, Sydney 1924: 110 and 27

Last Test: England v Australia, The Oval 1934: 266 and 22

Greg Chappell (Australia)

Test debut: Australia v England, Perth 1970: 108 and DNB

Last Test: Australia v Pakistan, Sydney 1984: 182 and DNB

Mohammad Azharuddin (India)

Test debut: India v England, Calcutta 1984/85: 110 and DNB

Last Test: India v South Africa, Bangalore 2000: 9 and 102

Alastair Cook (England)

Test debut: India v England, Nagpur 2006: 60 and 104 no

Last Test: England v India, The Oval 2018: 71 and 147