A take on Alastair Cook's all-time XI

Arguably the best English batsman of all time, Alastair cook recently announced his retirement from international cricket. Cook has been an exceptional cricketer for England, a perfect role model for any youngster who wants to play cricket for his country. A fierce competitor with a calm demeanour.

Cook has scored runs all around the world which puts him in a high pedestal. A few days back he announced his all-time favourite Test eleven. He categorically mentioned that he has picked the eleven on the basis of either the players he has played with or against. Goes without saying that Cook has a right to an opinion on cricketers he has played with or against like everyone else.

Let's pick some players who are not outright choices in any all-time playing eleven, to see how good they are under varying conditions.

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#1 Graham Gooch

It appears that the primary reason for choosing Gooch as an opening batsman and the captain of his side is their Essex connection. Cook must have seen Gooch from close quarters as a player. Watching someone from close quarters gives you a lot of insights about a person.

Gooch had an average record in Tests, he played 113 Test matches and scored 8900 runs at a modest average of 42.58 with 20 centuries.

Talking about alien conditions, Gooch played 13 matches in sub-continent and scored 869 runs at an average of 39.5 with just 1 century. Looking at the above record, I am sure there have been better opening batsmen amongst, players Cook played with or against.

#2 James Anderson

Anderson enjoying a light moment during the practice

Anderson has been an exceptional bowler for England. But, he has certain limitations as a fast bowler.

He needs helpful conditions to succeed. He primarily bowls in mid 130s which means that he cannot swing the ball at express pace. In sub-continental conditions, a fast bowler depends a lot on the reverse swing to pick wickets and its imperative to reverse swing the ball at a decent pace of around 140 km/hr, otherwise, the batsman can figure out which way the ball is swinging.

Anderson's record in Asia is nothing to write home about, he has taken 59 wickets from 20 Test matches which include just 1 five-wicket haul. Also, the world has seen many great fast bowlers in the recent past who could swing the ball at a great speed.

#3 AB de Villiers and Kumar Sangakkara as wicketkeepers

AB de Villiers standing in slips during a test match

In a Test XI, picking up a good wicketkeeper is imperative since ball tends to do a lot from the pitch during the five days of a Test match. Often, It swings pronouncedly during the first day then it spins prodigiously during the last two days. Wicketkeeping is a specialists job in Test matches, otherwise, a dropped catch or a missed stumping can cost a team heavily, the way it did when Kiran More dropped Graham Gooch early in the inning during a Test match at Lord's in 1990, Gooch went on to score 333.

Although excellent Test batsmen, AB de Villiers and Kumar Sangakkara were not regular keepers for their national Test sides, which is an indication that specialist wicketkeepers were preferred over these two.

Also, the world has seen a lot of good wicketkeepers in the recent past who were good with the bat as well. Picking a part-time keeper in a Test side is never a good decision.