Sir Alastair Cook is reportedly set to retire from all forms of cricket at the end of the 2023 county season.

Cook, England’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket with more than 12,000 runs, is reportedly set to retire from all forms of cricket after the completion of the ongoing County Championship season.

One of the greatest Test openers of all time, Cook called it quits in international cricket five years back in 2018 but has been a regular for Essex in county cricket since his international retirement.

This season, Cook has made 808 runs so far (until the first innings of Essex’s ongoing match against Hampshire) from 23 innings at an average of 36.72 with one hundred and three fifties.

According to a Daily Mail report, however, Cook is set to call time on his playing career at the end of the current season as he hopes to take Essex to another County Championship title.

The report states that Cook intends to spend more time on his family farm going forward and feels that this would be the right time to move on and clear the path for younger players. Cook also has a media career with BBC and TNT Sport which he would be able to give more attention to post-retirement.

Essex have one more game remaining in the season after their ongoing fixture against Hampshire and are still in the race for the Championship title. Surrey are currently top of the table in Division One and are 15 points clear of Essex who are second-placed.

Two victories for Essex in their last two games of the season will give them a good opportunity to get their hands on the Championship title and bid the perfect farewell to Cook.

Cook has had a highly decorated England career. He is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket and the highest among openers. His tally of 33 Test centuries is the seventh-highest in the format. Only Sunil Gavaskar has scored more hundreds as a Test opener (33) than Cook (31).

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