Sir Alastair Cook says he feels jealous while watching David Warner bat

Sir Alastair Cook, who retired from international cricket 18 months ago, has admitted that he feels 'incredibly jealous' whilst watching David Warner bat.

Cook, who was known to be a grafter due to his conservative style of batting, admitted that the ease and pace at which Warner notches runs on the board is something that makes him feel incredibly jealous at times.

He recalled how much effort it took for him to score a fifty or a hundred when he was at the crease and compared that to Warner, whose ability to go after the bowlers from the very first ball is in stark contrast to Cook’s approach.

“I was a grafter, I had to graft for everything. I’m not ever going to compare myself to David Warner but sometimes I watch him bat and I’m incredibly jealous that he gets to 50 off 30 balls, it’s an hour into the day and he’s already sorted. He knows that whatever happens, [he] hasn’t really failed. Obviously he’ll be thinking he has to go and get a hundred [… but] if I was getting fifty, it was a three-hour job most times. There’s a lot of work going into it," Cook said.

The former England captain bided his time on the pitch and settled in at his own pace. Often, his long-drawn, grafting style was what frustrated opponents a lot and once Cook felt comfortable enough and had spent ample time on the crease, it was extremely difficult to dismiss him.

More often than not, a slow and steady start guaranteed a long and fruitful innings for Cook. Albeit, he revealed that it was this nature of his, coupled with the toll that captaincy eventually took on him, which made him feel that he didn’t have much more to give towards the end of his career.

“Eventually, after grinding my way through it a number of times, with the captaincy, I didn’t have that much more to give, unfortunately.”