10 best Essex cricketers of all time 

1 Alastair Cook

One of the greatest ever opening batsmen to play for England was produced by Essex and even after playing international cricket for 11 years, Alastair Cook is still going strong in Test cricket for his country.

He made his debut for Essex back in 2003 and within three years, he made his memorable Test debut, in which he scored a century against India at Nagpur.

His technique, temperament and the ability to soak up pressure make him the batsman that he is and a lot of the credit must go to the Essex set up that turned his considerable talents into a run machine all those years ago.

As far as Essex's finest are concerned, there is no one who comes close to Alastair Cook.