He would make his Test debut that winter, where he promptly completed a debut ton in the second innings of that match, against India at Nagpur.
Retiring in 2018, Cook went on to play 161 Tests, at an average of 45.35, ending his with many records, including the most consecutive test matches (159).
The highlight of his career was away in Australia in 2010/11, where he scored 766 runs with an eye-watering average of 127.66, and captained an Ashes win in Australia for the first time in 24 years.
He retired in the same way he came onto the scene over a decade prior with a century in his final innings against India.
For Essex, since his retirement from the international game, Cook has played a pivotal role in recent success, he was the Club’s leading red-ball run-scorer in both 2019 (1,063) and 2020 (563) on route to trophy wins in the LV= Insurance County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy.
During the 2019 season, Cook found his name written in the record books once again as he and left-handed counterpart Nick Browne posted the club record opening stand of 373.
The famous number 26 moved past 26,000 First-Class runs in 2023 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, with 12,472 coming on the international stage.