Cook scores 33rd hundred in final Test innings for England before falling for 147; opener up to fifth on list of all-time Test run-scorers
Monday 10 September 2018 18:45, UK
Alastair Cook completed his 33rd century in his final Test innings for England before being dismissed for 147 against India on day four of the fifth Test at The Oval.
Cook reached three figures from 210 balls in his 161st Test and 291st innings due to overthrows from Jasprit Bumrah, having clipped away a delivery from India spinner Ravindra Jadeja as lunch approached.
The Oval crowd gave the outgoing opener a lengthy standing ovation, while every India fielder shook his hand once he snicked Hanuma Vihari behind in the afternoon session and strolled off to another round of applause.
Cook - who will end his career with 12,472 runs, 3,572 more than the next highest Englishman, his mentor Graham Gooch (8,900) - is the fifth player to score a hundred in their first and last Tests, the 33-year-old having hit 104 not out in India on debut in 2006 after being drafted in as a replacement for Marcus Trescothick in Nagpur.
India's Mohammad Azharuddin and Australian trio Greg Chappell, Reginald Duff and William Ponsford are the only other players to achieve the feat.
Cook also became the fifth-highest run-scorer in all of Test cricket, and the leading left-hander, when he reached 76, with those runs taking him past former Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara's tally of 12,400.
Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Rahul Dravid (13,288) are the only players above him.
Cook's 33rd Test ton moved him outright 10th on the list of century makers in Test cricket, above ex-Australia captain Steve Waugh, who managed 32.
The 33-year-old has scored more runs, hit more centuries, played in more Tests and taken more outfield catches than any other Englishman.
Cook - who won four Ashes series, two as captain - also holds the record for the number of consecutive Tests (159), six more than Australia's Allan Border (153).
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