Alastair Cook surprises everyone with his tasty dish of humble pie

Yesterday, we joked that Alastair Cook would go and prove us wrong by smashing a hundred off 60 balls in the 4th ODI at Trent Bridge.

He didn’t quite manage that, but 95 not out off 75 balls is hardly shabby and certainly damaged the credibility of our column in All Out Cricket this week where we suggested that Cook was the last of the Geoffrey Boycott type openers.

In our (slightly suspect) defence, we did concede that Cook deserved time to see if he could adapt his game to 50 over cricket especially given he is still yet to play 30 ODIs.

Whilst one swallow does not make a summer, the early signs are that like Andrew Strauss before him, Cook has the talent and aptitude to remodel his game and be a success in the shorter form of the game.

267 runs in the series so far at an average of 89 and more importantly at a Sehwagesque strike rate of 98 suggests there are more recipes in Cook’s repertoire than many (including us) had believed.

The humble pie he served up last night was surprisingly appealing.

At this rate, a call-up to the T20 side cannot be ruled out.