Alastair Cook reportedly almost played a stint in the Sheffield Shield ahead of an Ashes series towards the end of his playing career, according to Peter Siddle.
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast with Brad Haddin and Adam Peacock, Siddle shared that the deal was "all-sorted" for the 2021/2022 Sheffield Shield season.
"We had him signed to play at Tassie (Tasmania), for the start of a summer when I was down there," said Siddle, who played for Tasmania from 2020 to 2023 before regioning Victoria. "It was around Covid time so it just got a bit hard with family coming out and the logistics of it all. But he was going to come out, play a few games and then be here for the commentary. That would have been great...
"It was all sorted. It was all done and dusted and kept under wraps because of logistics and to make sure, could he actually get out here or not... But he didn't come. It was all sorted... He would have played the first half of the year up until Christmas, five or six Shield games and then do the Ashes and head home."
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Cook retired from international cricket in 2018, playing his final Test match at The Oval against India and receiving a hero's send off. He famously scored a century in his last innings for England, helping them to seal a win. He continued playing domestic cricket for Essex until the end of the 2023 season, combining that with a career in the commentary box for BBC Test Match Special.
Siddle: We chatted a lot about getting Cook over
Aside from playing against each other in six different Ashes series over the course of their careers, Cook and Siddle also shared the field at Essex, where Siddle featured as an overseas play from 2018 to 2021.
"I remember we chatted a lot about it because we played a lot of Test cricket against each other," said Siddle of Cook's potential stint with Tasmania. "Then playing as teammates was just a lot of fun because you go into battle for all those years against each other, and he wasn't a bloke who chatted, so you never really had a lot of banter with him on the field or sledging, or that kind of stuff.
"But he was a hard cricketer, and playing alongside him you'd sit back in the changing room, put you arms behind your head and chill because you know this bloke's just going to bat all day. And he did."
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While English players often spend winters in Australia playing Grade Cricket early in their careers, and regularly feature in the BBL, it's less common for them to play in the Sheffield Shield. With only six teams in the Sheffield Shield compared to 18 English first-class counties, there are less opportunities for overseas players to be part of the competition. Mason Crane was signed to play a single game for New South Wales in 2017, and was their first overseas player since the 1980s.
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