Despite youngest to 8000, Alastair Cook nowhere near Sachin Tendulkar in batting greatness

Alastair Cook has accumulated his runs in a far easier environment than Sachin Tendulkar

England’s captain Alastair Cook and Australia’s captain Michael Clarke have just crossed 8,000 Test runs, each. While many have been less frenzied about Clarke’s feat, others have been falling over themselves with superlatives about Cook’s record as a batsman, even if his Ashes record as captain in Nov-Dec 2013 has drawn fewer cheers.

The Guardian declared breathlessly that Cook’s 8,000 Test runs, coming ‘21 days sooner than Sachin Tendulkar managed’ is ‘an astonishing achievement’.

Is it?

Cook is 29 years old and Clarke 32, so some have been quick to flag up Cook’s age as a sign of batting greatness.

Let’s take a closer look.

Cook is in his 8^th year as a Test cricketer and has already played 101 Tests at an average of 12 Tests a year. By the time Sachin was in his 8^th year as Test cricketer, he had played a mere 46 Tests at an average of only 6 Tests a year.

Clarke’s 101 Tests were played at an average of 10 Tests a year.

Now, ignore age.

Consider how they met their challenge of 101 Tests: Sachin had by his 101^st Test scored 8,440 runs, a good 407 runs ahead of Cook’s 8,033 runs and a good 437 runs ahead of Clarke’s 8,003 runs.

Our stop-watches are not going to tell us much after all. The ‘sooner than Sachin’ claim appears more scam than scoop.

Why?

Cook opened – always.

Sachin, almost always, came in at No: 4 or lower down. Clarke too was No: 4 or lower.

Cook had more batsmen coming after him, more time to settle in, greater scope to shape the team’s innings and with the team being ‘no loss’, was under far less pressure.

Sachin had fewer batsmen after him, less time to settle in, less scope to shape the team’s innings and with the team being ‘two down’ was under far more pressure. Clarke faced a similar challenge.

Cook had over twice the opportunity that Sachin did.

Now, consider hostile playing environment. Of their 101 Tests, only 44 of Cook’s Tests and only 48 of Clarke’s were played ‘away’. Of Sachin’s first 101 Tests, 58 were ‘away’.

Who has borne the greater burden and faced greater odds?

New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum reportedly once said of Cook: ‘He’s obviously a genius batsman….Where he is at in his career at the moment he’s as good as anyone who has played the game – probably barring Bradman.’

McCullum’s excitement aside, Cook is one of the best ever English batsmen. With another 500 runs or so he can increase England’s tally in the top 20 Test run-makers, from two (Gooch and Stewart) to three. He may eventually put Sachin and everyone else in the shade. With the incredible amount of Test cricket England plays, few will bet against it.

For now, can we all just promise to take a deep breath before weighing a batsman’s place in cricket history?

Cook’s autobiography ‘My Story So Far’ was published in 2008. If it helps to put that in cricketing perspective, he played his first Test match in 2006.

Rudolph Lambert Fernandez is writing a non-fiction book that celebrates batting greatness in cricket history. Follow him on Twitter @RudolphFernandz