‘Not every eye at The Oval was dry’: Alastair Cook calls it a day – Almanack

Parting is such sweet sorrow, according to the Bard in Romeo and Juliet. In professional cricket, however, it is almost invariably plain sorrow: bitterness at the thought of what might have been, resentment at what was not, and even rage against the dying of the light. So Alastair Cook’s farewell to the international game, in being the sweetest there could be, defied all precedent.

Nobody at Joe Root’s press conference at The Oval, the day before the Fifth Test against India, had really believed him when he said a Cook century might be “written in the stars”. Most cricketers’ final Tests, when announced in advance, have been a disappointment. The nervous energy required to reach peak performance has drained away; even 99 per cent is not enough in Test cricket. Farewells at The Oval, in particular, have been more sorrow than joy. England’s oldest Test ground had never seen a departure, by any cricketer from any country, to match the grandeur of the setting: no one has made a major contribution while seeing his side to victory in both match and series.

Though they were the best of team-mates, Cook said it was the right outcome when Anderson flattened the middle stump of Mohammed Shami, because that image would live longer in the memory. Cook’s farewell was superlative – to match his feat of being England’s highest Test run-scorer, leading century-maker, longest-serving captain, and most prolific slip catcher – because it was the most joyous farewell of any English cricketer. The one to beat was another Essex and England captain, not his batting mentor, Gooch, but his mentor on media matters, Nasser Hussain. After scoring an unbeaten 103 at Lord’s in 2004 against New Zealand, Hussain had run off the field and finalised his decision to retire, with the applause still in his ears – and before the selectors could drop him.

A batsman had to go for the next Test, because Strauss on debut had made himself undroppable, and Hussain, as the oldest, was the most vulnerable. So he got his retirement in first. But Cook retired in his own time, at the right time. Was it all self-indulgent? No. If the series had stood at 2–2 after Southampton, he would not have rocked the boat by announcing the Oval Test would be his last: that would have distracted the team from their task of beating the world’s No. 1 side. Instead, at 3–1, it was only right for once that the individual should be as big as the team.

It has to be added that Cook’s handsomeness – of face and physique, that is, not his batting – added to the poignancy that many onlookers felt as he climbed the pavilion steps for the final time. Not every eye at The Oval was dry.