England icon Cook to retire from cricket with unusual career change planned
England legend Sir Alastair Cook is set to confirm his retirement from cricket.
The 38-year-old retired from Test cricket back in 2018 and has represented Essex in the County Championship, whilst also providing punditry analysis, ever since. However, the decision has been made for Cook to hang up his bat for good following a stunning two-decade career.
He is set to bow out from the game with a number of achievements under his belt. He has won the Ashes with England twice, whilst he also became his nation’s record run scorer, a record that Cook still holds despite Joe Root’s best efforts over recent years.
According to the Mail Online, an announcement over Cook’s retirement could potentially come as early as Friday. Essex are set to take on Hampshire as they attempt to stay in the race for the title.
It is reported that Cook wants to ‘bow out quietly’ but Essex are keen to toast the occasion with a low-key drinks reception to honour both him and Dan Lawrence, who is due to leave the club at the end of the season. Cook believes the time is now right for him to step back and clear the way for younger players to forge their route into the game.
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Once he retires, he intends on returning to his beloved family farm, whilst he will combine his farming duties with his punditry career with both the BBC and TNT Sports. Cook previously admitted that he found his work within the media difficult initially and was tempted to return to Test cricket as a result.
Alastair Cook is set to focus on his punditry career (Getty Images)What is your highlight of Alastair Cook's career? Share your thoughts in the commebts below
As quoted by BBC Test Match Special, he said: “I found my first year of commentating incredibly hard. I felt so emotionally attached to those players, really close. You’ve spent so many times and so many conversations together, I didn’t want to ever betray their trust. I didn’t want to talk ill of them because I know how hard it is.
“I had a two-week period, and I can’t remember when it was, after a couple of years when I had five recurring dreams in two weeks about making a comeback. Enough for me to tell Alice, Jimmy, Rooty and Broady about it. And that was a really strange couple of weeks.
“I randomly started running again at five in the morning. I rang Jimmy and I spoke to him. In the back of my mind it was always comebacks don’t go well and then Jimmy sent me 15 comebacks that went well.
“But then common sense prevailed because I started batting in the nets and thinking about it more in the nets and realising, it is different. The way I walked off at the Oval will never be beaten for me. It cannot be topped.
"The reason I stopped was because, for me, what else was there to really get excited for? A comeback, I think for me it would’ve been wrong. I think it would’ve put all sorts of unnecessary pressure on me in one sense and it might have been exciting for a little bit I suppose.”
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