Alastair Cook has become the first England batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs, after reaching the milestone on the fourth afternoon of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street.Cook, who started the match on 9,980 career runs, fell five short of the landmark when he was caught in the gully for 15 on the opening morning of the match. But he made no mistake second-time around, the moment arriving at 3.15pm when he clipped Nuwan Pradeep off his pads for four.
He was given a second opportunity in this Test only after Sri Lanka managed to score 475 after following on, setting England a target of 79 to go 2-0 up in the series.
“The game is not about personal milestones, it’s about the team effort, but sometimes there are those personal moments. It’s been a real special day, nice to have my family here to see it although Mum and Dad went home last night. It’s the 7 o’clock nets with Goochie, all the hard work that goes into it,” Cook told Sky Sports. “There’s always questions to be asked, no matter how many runs you have behind you, the next innings is most important. It does mean a lot but couldn’t do it without the support of my family and team-mates.”
Cook is the 12th batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs and, at 31 years and 157 days, the youngest by five months. The previous holder of that record, Sachin Tendulkar, notched his 10,000th Test run at the age of 31 years and 326 days, against Pakistan at Kolkata on March 16, 2005. Tendulkar, however, required only 195 innings to reach the landmark. This is Cook’s 226th.
Cook is also the only active Test cricketer in the 10,000 club. Seven of the previous players to have reached the mark have retired in the past four years, including two men who were on the winning side, in 2014, on the last occasion Sri Lanka played a series in England – Kumar Sangakkara (12,400) and Mahela Jayawardene (11,814).
Cook, who is playing in his 128th Test, has 28 Test centuries to his name – another England record – and has further milestones on the horizon. He is closing in on becoming the second England batsman after Graham Gooch (5,917) to score 5,000 Test runs in home internationals, and is set to over-take Ian Bell (13,331) as the second-highest England run-scorer in all formats in the coming weeks.
The first batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs was India’s Sunil Gavaskar, who posted the milestone against Pakistan at Ahmedabad on March 7, 1987.
@Agency report.
