Former England captain Alastair Cook, who will play his first Test without the Test captaincy in five years, named three toughest bowlers he has faced in his career so far. Cook is the leading run scorer for England in Test cricket and he has been an absolute rock for them at the top of order.
Cook is still very young and he has a lot of cricket left him. A the time of writing this post, Cook has 11,057 runs and 30 centuries from a record 140-matches for England.
In his career so far, Cook has faced some of the best bowlers in cricket history. From Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne to Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralitharan, Cook has performed and excelled against almost every bowling attack he has faced in Test cricket.
But in a surprise admission, Cook told The Times UK that Australian seamer Stuart Clark, along with Pakistan pace pair Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif in 2010, are the bowlers he’s struggled with the most during his prolific international career.
When asked about the toughest bowler, Cook took Stuart Clarke’s name. Cook faced Clark in seven Tests in two Ashes series. In 14 innings that Cook and Clarke played against each other, the Australian dismissed England’s most prolific scorer 5 times. And, in these 14 innings, Cook scored only one century. Clarke dismissed Cook 4 times caught behind (Wicketkeeper and slip fielders) and once bowled off an inside edge.
Talking about Pakistan’s fast bowling duo Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Amir, Cook batted seven times against these two and he was dismissed 6 times by these two. Asif and Amir dismissed Cook three times each.
