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England 's leading Test run scorer and former captain, Alastair Cook on Friday, October 13 announced retirement from professional cricket. The 38-year-old English cricketer, who retired from Test cricket in 2018, took to his county club Essex to call off his career. The left-handed batter, whose contract at Chelmsford expired lately, aimed to seek on extension and calling off his time from professional cricket. However, there were speculations around the English cricketer making this decision, but no one expected it to be here on this day.
“Today I am announcing my retirement and end of my career as a professional cricketer,” he started his statement as shared by Essex Cricket. “It is not easy to say goodbye. For more than two decades, cricket has been so much more than my job. It has allowed me to experience places I have never dreamed I would go, be part of teams that have achieved things I would never have thought possible, most importantly, created deep friendships that will last a lifetime,” it further read.
The cricketer, who started his career at the age of eight, playing for Wickham Bishops Under 11s, calls curtain having scored more than 12,000 Test runs for England, capping 161 times in the longest format of the game and captaining 59 of them. However, Cook’s final appearance came in defeat to Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in September 2023.
“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Essex, the county I joined when I was aged 12. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Chelmsford for everything you have given to me,” his statement further added. Cook continued calling it to be “the right time for this part of my life to come to an end.”
While in his two-page long message he aimed to continue his support for the English side, concluding by wishing The Three Lions “good luck” in the World Cup.
