Alastair Cook      

Those in the know were saying that the tall, dark and handsome Alastair Cook was destined for great things very early on, and on the Ashes tour of 2010-11, he came good on a host of promises, scoring an incredible 766 runs in seven innings to anchor England's first series win in Australia for 24 years. In so doing, he went past 5,000 Test runs, having turned 26 on Christmas Day - the second youngest batsman to reach the landmark after Sachin Tendulkar. Two years later and further records had been broken as he became England's leading Test century-maker - hitting No. 23 against India in Kolkata, his third in three matches - and became the youngest player to pass 7000 runs.

It had seemed inevitable, from the moment he scored a hundred on debut against India in 2006, that he would have a prolific career and captain his country. The leadership came firstly when Andrew Strauss was rested for the Bangladesh tour in 2009, then the ODI side in 2010 before he took full control of the Test team in 2012 after Strauss retirement. It was a challenge that could have broken lesser men; an away trip to India and the ongoing Kevin Pietersen saga. It turned into a triumph as England won the Test series 2-1 and Pietersen returned to the side to play a key role.

A correct and stylish left-hander strong on the pull, Cook was thrown in at the deep end by Essex the year after he left Bedford School with a fistful of batting records, and has barely looked back since. His early England career was full of successes, although a barren spell in 2010 briefly threatened his place before a century against Pakistan at The Oval - a rather more frenetic affair than Cook's usual knocks - transformed him in time for the Ashes. Up until that point, he had looked increasingly vulnerable outside off stump, with a tendency to play around the front pad proving costly. Cook had already lost his one-day place after a moderate run, not helped by his fielding sometimes being less than scintillating.

He captained England in the Under-19 World Cup early in 2004, scored his maiden first-class hundred later that year, and added a double-century for Essex against the Australian tourists in 2005. The following spring he was called up by the full England side when injuries struck in India. He had been in the Caribbean with the A team when the SOS came but, unfazed, stroked 60 and a magnificent century to complete a memorable debut in Nagpur. He remained consistent, seemingly at ease with the pressure, and was a shoo-in for the 2006-07 Ashes. Before that series even started Glenn McGrath paid him the honour of publicly announcing that he would be targeting Cook: it made for a tough baptism, but although he was hardly prolific (276 runs) he did manage a century in Perth.

Bowlers began to exploit that penchant for hanging on the front foot, but Cook still made his share of runs. By the time of his 25th birthday on Christmas Day 2009 he had scored far more runs (3536 to David Gower's 2548) and centuries (nine to Ian Botham's six) than any other Englishman of a comparable age. He hit three more Test hundreds in 2009 - but none of them were in the Ashes series, in which 95 at Lord's was his only score above 32 as the Aussies probed that front-pad problem.

However, further honours were just around the corner. Strauss took time off at the start of 2010, and Cook captained in Bangladesh, scoring centuries as both Tests were won. It was the prelude to the great feats in Australia to come and the evolution continued in May 2011 when he was named as Strauss' successor in the one-day captaincy. Little more than a year later, after Strauss' abrupt retirement, the Test role followed, with a demanding tour of India his first assignment. It was another challenge he ticked off.
Steven Lynch

• September 3, 2003
  Golden boy makes his debut
  • Having made his Essex Second XI debut at 16 and scored plenty of runs in schools cricket for Bedford, Alastair Cook makes his first-class debut aged 18 against Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford. The boy wonder duly registered his maiden fifty in the second innings, unbeaten at the top of the order with 69.
    
• May 19, 2004
  The first of many
  • Having scored a number of fifties without getting to a hundred after seven first-class games, Cook records his first century in a run-glut against Leicestershire at Chelmsford.
    
• February to March 2005
  Into the A-Team
  • After his first full season of senior cricket, Cook was selected for England A's tour to UAE and Sri Lanka captained by Ian Bell.
    
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• September 3, 2005
  Statement of intent
  • As Australia were floundering on their 2005 tour, Cook and a young Ravi Bopara really stuck the boot in. They shared a 370-run second-wicket stand as Cook made a rapid 214 from 238 deliveries against an attack that included Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Shaun Tait, Stuart MacGill and Michael Kasprowitz.
    
• March 1st, 2006
  Flying start
  • With England shedding players by the minute, Cook was plucked out of the academy team in West Indies and flown into his Test debut, opening the innings against India at Nagpur. Aged 21, he was the epitome of sang froid, with a nerveless first-innings 60 followed by an unbeaten 100 in the second innings. The man destined since boyhood for Test cricket didn't disappoint.
    
• May to July 2006
  Home runs
  • Back to back hundreds against Pakistan at Lord's and Old Trafford confirmed his status as the Next Big Thing. Batting at number three, behind Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, it looked like England had settled the pivotal position for the foreseeable future...
    
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• November 2006 to January 2007
  Rude Ashes awakening
  • ...However, he was soon given the responsibility of opening after Trescothick's late withdrawal before the opening Test of the 2006-07 Ashes series. Cook endured a tough Ashes debut as Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark mercilessly and meticulously unpicked his technique, causing havoc in that left-handers channel outside off stump. A grafting and tenacious 116 in the second innings at Perth was a timely reminder of his ability but 276 runs at 27.60 in the five-nil drubbing represents the first time his precocious career had stalled.
    
• May to June 2007
  Easy pickings
  • The West Indies proved far more hospitable opposition and Cook marked a return to form with hundreds in the first Test at Lord's and the third Test at Old Trafford as England completed an easy 3-0 victory. It was Cook's sixth century in 17 Tests.
    
• December 2007
  Seventh heaven
  • Following 0 and 4 in the first Test of England's overseas tour to Sri Lanka in Kandy, Cook overcame his reputation as an uncertain player of spin with a pair of fifties in Colombo and his seventh Test hundred, in the second innings at Galle.
    
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• March 5, 2008
  Shelling peas
  • Having developed a reputation as a cumbersome fielder and clumsy catcher, Cook set about putting the record straight in New Zealand. In the first Test at Hamilton Cook snaffled six memorable catches at gully, leaping and diving to great effect.
    
• March 2008 to February 2009
  The long wait
  • Having become a senior member of the side, Cook picked up the infection that had troubled England's top-six since the Adelaide horror-show - the inability to make hundreds. Since his seventh hundred at Galle, Cook went 26 innings without recording another. It was difficult to accuse him of poor form, since he regularly passed fifty, but with England struggling, his presence at the top of the innings was more frustrating than inspiring.
    
• 25 January 2009
  FEC - the next man in line
  • The chiselled, public-school tones, the masses of runs in his early years and the tenuous feeling from England's management that he was 'made of the right stuff', meant Cook had long been earmarked as leadership potential. Following the fiasco that saw England fire Kevin Pietersen as captain, Cook was appointed right-hand man to Andrew Strauss before England's tour of the West Indies.
    
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• March 2, 2009
  Merciful hundred
  • With the pressure for a Test hundred mounting, Cook would have felt the hurdle insurmountable after he was out for 94 in the third Test against West Indies at Bridgetown . However, he held his nerve and in the second innings, and used the friendly pitch and friendlier bowling to record an unbeaten 139. It was his highest Test score and his relief was palpable when Cook said he was pleased to "get the monkey off my back".
    
• May 2009 to December 2009
  Dry run
  • Despite a 'gimme' 160 against a disinterested and demoralised West Indies side at Chester-le-street pressure grew on Cook as suspicion lingered he couldn't score big runs against good sides. Australia, his nemesis, had once again targeted a weakness around off stump with the relentless precision that other teams had not matched. A single fifty in 11 outings against them left his spot under scrutiny when England toured South Africa. Life was not made any easier for him when it emerged that he was likely to lead England in Bangladesh if regular captain Andrew Strauss opted for a rest. The decision not to take a reserve opener displayed a belief from the England management that was not matched by pundits, and when he failed in the first Test at Centurion, many were calling for his head.
    
• December 26, 2009
  The perfect response
  • Yet he discovered a monk-like discipline to battle through to a 263-ball 118 and set up England's victory at Durban two days after his 25th birthday. Resisting all temptation outside off stump he grafted his way back into form and followed up with a pair of fifties in the next Test at Cape Town.
    
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• January 18, 2010
  At the helm
  • Having answered his critics he was duly appointed England captain for their tour of Bangladesh as Strauss decided to rest. It completes a journey that seemed inevitable from when he was breaking records as a schoolboy in Bedford.
    
• January 8, 2011
  Ashes glory
  • Attains greatness in an unforgettable performance in Australia, scoring 766 runs in seven innings, including three centuries - 235 not out at Brisbane, 148 at Adelaide and 189 at Sydney. His series tally is second only to Wally Hammond's 905 in 1928-29 for an England batsman in Ashes cricket.
    
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