Test Match Special - Cook’s Oval farewell

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

Sir Alastair Cook looks back on his magical farewell Test against India in 2018. Cook reveals to Jonathan Agnew how he came to his decision to retire from international cricket and the inside story of that last innings century.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. You're listening to the TMS Podcasts. from BBC Radio 5 Live. One of England's greatest ever batsman has announced his retirement from international cricket.

Cook drives his time. He's beaten the infield. The ball's racing towards the boundary square of the wicket. And Alastair Cook becomes England's all-time leading run scorer in the history of test cricket. Yes, Alistair Cook will call time on his England career after the fifth test against India, which starts on Friday. In a statement, Cook said he can retire with a big smile on my face, knowing I'm I've given everything and there's nothing left in the tank. It'd been on my mind for about 12 months, I suppose. I think obviously giving up the captaincy is kind of the start of that. Have that worked playing and not being captain?

Yeah, well, I thought it had. It worked okay. You know, I hope I wasn't an issue for Rudy. You know, obviously trying to give him space as a new captain to grow into the role to get his ideas across the team. And, you know, there was a couple of times where he would have spoken. and I probably would have disagreed to what he was saying. But, you know, so I had to bite my tongue and just let...

No, you do, you do. And that would have been the only times I probably found it a little bit awkward where he was saying stuff and actually I thought possibly we should go down a slightly different route. But, you know, I had my time as captain, so that was kind of the thing. I really enjoyed playing without the pressure and the stress of captain's year. I did it for, what, 50-odg games. So it was quite nice to just set back into that role. But I suppose as time went on, I have...

I think probably all that captaincy, all the stuff which happens in a career, kind of wore you down. I felt it was time to step away at some stage. Can you remember there was an absolute definitive moment where you thought, right, that's it? I'm going to pull the plug on this now. Well, New Zealand, that New Zealand tour? After the ashes, he obviously went back out to New Zealand. I remember speaking to Chris Silverwood, who was then the assistant coach a couple of times about this.

So he was kind of the first person to kind of get my, you know, to know that I was kind of wavering. And he was like, just go home. Well, see, I don't know whether it's because New Zealand you're miles away from home, whatever. I didn't score any runs in those two test matches. And he said, just go home, have a month away from it and see. And I felt a bit re-edgedyzed after that. But I suppose you top up a little bit and then you come down again. And I knew halfway through that India series that that was going to be the end of it this summer.

Right. And Alice, when does she start getting involved in this? Well, she didn't really until, I suppose, the famous text messages I sent her. So I made my decision at Trent Bridge after I was out in the second inning. The runs weren't, obviously, what helped me, I wasn't scoring any runs, but it was almost irrelevant for me, even if I was scored 100 there. While I was thinking, what I was experiencing, I kind of knew that it was time. In one way, though, because people were saying,

you weren't an old an old lag hanging on in there I mean you saw all these thousands of runs no one scored more what is it actually that makes you think that or makes you know actually I've had enough

I can't carry on well I just I just wasn't feeling that same bells to play for England and have that same drive as I once had and then it's kind of that moment you admit to yourself that it is and you're kind of intrigued what other stuff

life could happen or in your life and kind of the next part of it and but it was it was just that little bit of an edge in my mind i felt yeah i just i just felt it and i and i was that was it so i kind of made the decision during that trendbridge test match and i went home to go and went home went back to the hotel to go and tell alice this was my decision and a lot of the times where you kind of down on the dumps and you um you're not scoring runs and you have a few of the poor me moments you know it's like alice is very good

it just kind of give me a kick up the back side i go and have a beer then go training and go and hit some balls and stop feeling sol of yourself and go and score some runs it's like kick up the back side that kind of like this so i was kind of half dreading telling her thinking she was going to say the same thing again so did it by text but i did it by text because well you know me um anyway so the family were up and she was very heavily pregnant with was then our third child which obviously didn't know boy or girl but turned out to be jack um and we ended up just watching the in between us movie that night and i just i bottled it that night We were laughing, laughing away as the in-between.

Like, one of those just silly, and we'd seen it a couple of times before, and I just thought, you know, I just, I don't want to, not ruin, I don't have to have an argument or a she's say, you've got to carry on, do this, and then we have that discussion there. So I just, I left it, because I was having a really nice evening,

a couple of beers and whatever. And then the next morning I got to the ground, and you meant to hand your phone in, but I was just like, do you know what this is, I've got to do it, so I sent a text message, obviously trying to word it right. You know what's that, you see, it's a typing thing, don't you? Alice is typing, typing.

I was like, you're almost dreading the reply in one sense, if it's this when you're so convinced. And then you just, well, it seemed like five, ten minutes. But I was expecting his long essay back. And she just said, I know. And I was just like, oh, all right. And then I went, that was it. I was like, so she obviously, you know, she's not silly.

And she obviously, when you know someone quite well, you spend a lot of time with them, she obviously saw her signs and probably just didn't bring it up, because didn't want to, you know, like, I suppose, put my thoughts in my mind. or whatever. Can you know what you said in the first place? Did you say that?

I've decided I'm going to quit. Yeah. I suppose I could probably scroll through and actually find the text message in one sense, but... It was short and it was... Yeah, it was like... It wouldn't have been very long.

And then actually I told Jimmy that afternoon. And, you know, sometimes you tell someone something and you almost wish you hadn't said it. You know, it was almost like... I was very interesting to like... Because only at that stage, obviously I knew and that obviously Alice knew. I thought telling a close friend

a guy I played a lot of cricket with I wonder whether I'd regret saying it because once someone knows like that that's it it's kind of like whatever happened even if I changed my mind he would always know I'd have that kind of conversation so and when I said it to him like there was none of that

it was just more relief actually that was the first one and he was just like are you sure I was like yeah man I'm just I just yeah it's sad but I just know I just know it's right and then you didn't try to talk you out of it No. I did it on the balcony in the middle of a game, so it's very hard to with, you know, the Trent Bridge, there's only two of us there. So it would, any time, someone could have walked back into them. Yeah. And then, obviously then it was like a matter of organizing how to do it, I suppose, in the right way. Without being egotistical and having a big fanfare, like, I didn't really want that, but you end up actually, what other way are doing? There's no other way of doing it, really. There's a few questions about places, about my question marks about my place. team so got to southampton catch it really quiet southampton told broadie like before the game

and rootie so i want to play golf with root i think root root root he knew i said like let's play you know southampton the golf course but behind the hotel let's go and play nine o's and he's like come on then what's happening it's on the first tunnel i think i must have been over three foot part or something trying to put me off but um he and he just said like he knew as well so so that was it i just i just i just the only thing i didn't want was it to get out i don't like some There's amazing how many leaks or what, you know, every story seems to come out the day before it should come out. You know, I knew as captain, all these stuff. It was the only thing I wanted to be in control of it.

I don't know why I just didn't want any rumours to get out. I didn't want it to be, you know, a headline somewhere before I told my mum and dad or told or whatever. And also told the team. So, as only as Southampton and fair play to everyone, that everyone kept it really quiet until, I suppose, I think you announced it, didn't you? I can tell you that Alistair that he'll retire from international cricket at the end of this season. No one's played more times, but 160 tests.

He scored more runs, more than 12,000. Captain in England more often or played more tests consecutively than Cook. He scored 3200s, 5 of them double-hundreds, and as captain, he led England to two Ashes wins. But you told a journalist, you trusted a journalist at Southampton. Well, now I'm knowing you, now I'm knowing you and all the tricks you've played on me.

I shouldn't have told you. I told you in dinner. We went for dinner. Well, we did, because I think I was sort of new. And I remember, I met you, it was a day before the match. And we were chatting in the pitch. And I said, come, I was going to have some dinner, if you've got time. Because I think, I guess, can't you can't even see you.

And actually, to be fair, you've been around a lot. You did trust me. And so, yeah, we did sit on it. And I wasn't, I wasn't surprised, I must say. It just seemed that it was the right sort of a time to do it. So then, we've got this whole process, because you're right. I mean, you've got, I mean, it just becomes the big, an orly then, doesn't it?

Yeah. And, you know, that is, that is pressure. Well, I mean, we'll have obviously told the lads at Southampton, and then Jimmy and I went back actually to go back via Straussie to tell Straussie. I'm just, again, I can't maybe he'll steal director or cricket or not, but Ruth wasn't very well. So it was one of those good, like to go and see on the way home, we stopped in the car, I can't remember Strauss.

He was still in charge. I think he was. I think he must have been for me to think. So me and Jimmy went to go and see him and tell him as well. Was he expecting it? I don't know. I mean, you know, I think he probably had, well, I know he had a lot of other things on his mind because we all know how that panned out.

But I went to see him and then Jimmy and I played golf. And I think you read it out, didn't you, there? Here's his statement. After much thought and deliberation of the last few months, I've decided to announce my retirement from international cricket at the end of this test series against India. Although it's a sad day, I could do so with a big smile on my face, knowing I'd given everything and there's nothing left in the tank.

I've achieved more than I could ever have imagined and feel very privileged to have played for such a long time alongside some of the greats of the English game. The thought of not sharing the dressing room again with some of my teammates was the hardest part of my decision, but I know the timing is right. I've loved cricket my whole life from playing in the garden as a child and will never underestimate how special it is to pull on an England's shirt. So I know it's the right time to give the next generation of young cricket as their turn to entertain us and feel the immense pride that comes with representing your football. country. There are too many people to thank individually, but a special mention must go to the Barmy Army and all supporters for their constant encouragement for the team, and also a special mention to Graham Gooch. As a seven-year-old, I queued for his autograph outside Essex County Cricket Club, and years later, was so fortunate to have him mentoring me. Graham was my sounding

board, especially in the early years of my career, spending hour after hour throwing balls at me with his dog stick. He made me realise you always need to keep improving whatever you're trying to achieve. My family and I have had 12 wonderful years fulfilling my dreams and this couldn't have been done without them. So I wish to thank my parents, my brothers, my wife Alice and her family for the quiet, unwavering support behind the scenes. As cricketers who travel frequently, we often don't realize just how important our families are to our success. I'd also like to thank Essex for their help and support ever since I was 12 and I can't wait to get fully involved with them in the 2019 season. So he is going to carry on playing for Essex.

For a year or two, who knows quite for how long. But basically, Alistair Cook, England's longest serving player, captain and everything else, has announced that this next test match started on Friday will be his last one. And then from that moment, it was... I found it uncomfortable. I've got a great photo of me and Jimmy playing golf, and it'd been out announced the next day. So it was on the papers, and there was a picture of me saying England, legend calls it a day.

I'm not calling myself a legend. That was just a headline. I'm reading at a moment golf course, and Jimmy takes a photo and snaps it. So the one thing I like about cookie, he had no, he's no ego. And I thought it was quite funny. So I enjoyed that bit. And then Ed Smith rang me, said, do you want to play this game? And I was like, well, yeah, I think I do.

I do want to play this game. But then I suppose in your mind, as it always does, when you're processing stuff like this, oh God, the whole week's going to be about me, it's going to be, you know, brilliant in one way, and I'll enjoy it. But also, what if I don't score runs? Well, if I don't do well, it's embarrassing. you know, so then that dawned on me that I'll, you know, everyone's texting me saying as if I died as far as actually one person

did text me saying, are you dead? All these nice stuff people are writing about it. And it doesn't matter what you do in this game. What's the worst thing that could have happened? Well, you got a pair. Yes. But that's been awful? I mean, looking back now, probably not.

Don Brown and got naught. I know, like, but looking back now, like, when it's all of an unfortunately bit of irrelevance, isn't it? It's just a game of cricket. probably is like. But there's that personal pride, isn't there? That's that.

The ovations I got walking down the stairs and all that stuff was spectacular. But did I take him in? No, because I was so focused on trying to score some runs. And down to the stairs come the two England Openers, Keaton Jennings, but in front, Alistair Cook.

And listen to the crowd. What a reception. Everyone on their feet. A wonderful cheer for Alistair Cook. The Indians are lined up. And Alistair Cook walks between them all. They're applauding. And Keaton Jennings actually goes round the side. That's a nice gesture. Pirate Coley shakes Alister Cook by the hand. And the two openers who travelled here on the underground together today.

Punch gloves. And now battle can commence. But that's a lovely reception that we're going to. lovely reception that really is. It's interesting that clearly part of the reason he gave up was the pressure of it all and the relentlessness of opening the batting for England and so on and yet by choosing to

play in that game you've actually heaped a load more on yourself. But obviously it worked out okay in the end and it was a really good finale for it for me and the closure and everything so the first innings I mean you're batting nicely actually

you've got 71 yeah and then I think Bumra got me out didn't he Bumra bowls to him he's bowled him Bummer has got through India have their second wicket and no Cook 100 today in his final test match. He's battled out

there and he's produced his highest score the summer but it will not be three figures Alice de Cook walks off and they're standing up around the Oval and applauding him I thought that was my opportunity gone you know like if I'm

totally honestly the year like would you settle for that though actually yeah I would have done But there was that bit inside me, like when I sat down and got it out thinking, you know, I had a chance there to do something quite special. And that was my moment. I got in and, you know, I did all the hard yards. And I suppose probably that kind of made it the decision, like right, easy, kind of easy in my mind. I'm saying, that's probably what I'm missing, like the ability to go on and score 100 or whatever.

So that kind of thing, it was nice that are your ovations, but there was, as always, there's cricket ends in disappointment, don't it? So it was like the disappointment of it was there. Were you sort of counting down the days of the game as well? I think I've only got two days left. Oh, I've only got one day left. No, I've just tried to enjoy it. I tried to, apart from the extra scrutiny, the interviews before, and I suppose the unwanted attention, which I knew was going to happen.

I'm not being silly. I just tried to enjoy the game, made sure every night I had some beers and dressing. I took in the moment, took in the moment, except when I was going to. I was back, I think so. Yeah. All right, the founder, because they were all there. And they're, obviously, and Alice particularly, but your parents as well, they've all been such a part of all of this as well.

I mean, and your brother, I mean, were they all saying goodbye to something as well? Could you feel them sort of being emotionally attached to the whole thing? I don't know. I've never really asked them that question. I just think they had a good five days. Like, yeah, look, it's, you know, the support I had from my family throughout the 12, it was unrelenting, the 12 years, the years of, before I played group,

it was the quiet, unrelentantity support. I never had, you know, my mum and dad never did an interview, Alice never did an interview, which...

I tried to persuade her on. And actually, that probably one time, now looking back, I'm sad that she didn't, because I think she would have interviewed quite well, and be on TMS,

which I think she would have quite... I was so close. I just slipped from her graph. Yeah, I'm sure they did. I'm sure they miss coming up and watching and whatever, but it was great for the kids, like,

and Elsie, I don't mean, Elsie whether she would remember. about she was two so doubt it but you know you hope they do it now actually now coming to Essex they love it you know coming to watch put the Essex shirt on guess it's cap on and you know they know some of the players and they really really enjoy coming to watch but but alice i mean for the wives and girlfriends i mean there is that kind of relationship all going on there that that she would now be removed from yeah it's yeah it's it's it's it's a massive change of

lifestyle isn't in life and and and a young age it's most most people in their life you know everything kind of moves in kind of a steady stove upwards with promotions and this and it kind of in one way it's a massive cutt in it's a fairly brutal thing and that's why i carried on play for essex and you know have have really enjoyed that bit so yeah i mean it's it's a big change for alice big change for us as a family but yeah so second innings walking out you've got your 71 tucked away so you got something in the bank was that was that what you were thinking no i mean actually the game was quite evenly poised actually and it was a really good cricket wicket because if you missed your

length you could score but if you got it right there was a little bit niv and I reckon in that second inning because I played a miss about 20 times the luckless man with shammy and I laughed as I hit one but India came really hard because they dragged themselves back into that game they think today's you got a few didn't he towards the end and we were only 40

ahead after probably looking like we're going to get a bigger lead than that and it was really tough and I really enjoyed it but what was saying what I kept saying to my mind in my mind was don't make this your last ball I just repeated that every inning. Really?

Ironically, until I got out that last ball. But that's all I kept saying, don't make his last ball. So we fought really hard. And me and Keaton fought really hard just before T. And then I think he got out. And me and Mowing, we scrapped hard until T. And then Rudy came in. Obviously, he changed the momentum a little bit.

But the only place I got really, really nervous, I suppose, was the last half an hour of that day. Because I'd organized a box for all my friends to come down, like from the farms and from school or whatever. and I thought it'd be really sad as they came down and I never thought they would see me back especially when the tossing bat

you're not normally batting on day four in the first games I thought that was kind of gone but suddenly there was this opportunity to do it and I was like I really dig in here really concentrate and don't make a mistake

not the little Gucci don't make a mistake and so the last 20 minutes I was yeah just really focusing on trying to be nice for them to experience me batting my last game so they've helped you focus in it way yeah they did but it made a bit of nervous because I felt like I was playing for them

and that makes sense playing it for them but yeah lucky I think I think Rudy faced the majority of the last two or three over just the way it happened so I didn't have too many balls and I remember him last ball of the day he got single sprinted trying to go back for the two it's like it could have been a two but I was having none of it I literally

just jogged down said shouted no like that because I didn't want to face the first ball the next day because I knew that that would be quite a like an emotional thing and the big buildup and all that kind of stuff and then again I think I was on 40 odd

and don't get out first I didn't want to be get out the first ball of the morning and everything's a massive anti-climate so I let Rootie had the first one in the morning

so I mean the ovations all the way through the crowd was willing your way the next day it was just every little milestone standing ovations I mean it's exhausting watching it

unless we'd like playing right cookies on his way coming down ahead of Jennings at the far end of the ground and let's have a look around the ground everyone standing up and applauding Alistair Cook as he makes his way out to bat for England for the final time

and a huge roar as well normally reserved for a player who's made a double hundred punch of the gloves with Jennings really strange moment for any cricketer roared to the wicket and he haven't scored a run yet

then he goes Bowles to Cook a silence as he works out of way as a good stroke that's four speeding away over the square and people are standing down there as Alistair reaches his second half century of the match

in his final test and I'll tell you what's a lovely shot to bring it up to one of his trademark strokes off his pads he's 51 not out he wants more but there's the first landmark it was lovely

it was like again it was a yeah very surreal moments and I suppose because I seem to be batting a fair bit in that game there's lots of coming off at lunch going off of walking out again to a brilliant thing and that's you know one of the things that England players are very lucky with

is the support that we get and I think that week really humbled me that actually genuinely felt like the genuine support through you know through your career you always have tough moments don't you like we lost 5-0 lost 5-0 twice in Australia you lost so many games

had some really tough games of cricket for England had a bit of a tough period as a batsman as captain and you feel as if people want you to fail a bit you know you don't know if

they want you still to be kept you know what I mean you just don't know do you when you're in that moment as quite rightly so people you want England to win and you just don't know generally do you're like are you well like but I think that one time at the end

it kind of was appreciation of what I suppose what I went through as an opening batsman in England as of my career. Yeah. So when do you start really thinking I could finish with 100 here? I think, so going into day four, it was like just get in again. Let's just get in. Actually, someone texted say he needed four or something to average 45.

I was like, right, let's try and get four then. And then, but I just kept on saying, don't make it's your last ball, as I said. Don't make it your last ball. And I got to, I suppose, got to, I suppose, 75, went past Sangha Carra. And then I was a big clown. I went to Rudy and I said, I didn't know about that. Obviously, I did. I was like, obviously, I didn't actually know how many runs I needed, but like, he was a laugh.

And then getting to the 80s, I'm like, right, this is, this is it, this is my one opportunity. This is the last opportunity you ever chance to. Yeah. And how did that feel? And how does it feel counting down to that 100 then? Well, again, I think, I suppose that game kind of so summed up my career in one sense that, of all the other stuff going on in whatever

away from the game or at the game whatever the majority of the time not all the time it sounds like when you look back you always felt like this when you're batting but I had the ability to park a lot of the other stuff and just focus very singly minded and very isolated on just one incident

which is that one ball coming down and that's all I did and you know the hundred's there you know it's getting closer the opportunity to get closer but the skill is is not to look at the end goal as it is to keep yourself in the present all the time keep it going keep it going

that kind of relentless nature of it and that's I suppose that's all I did really and until you get really close and then you start playing like I'm going to go a little bit off tangent here because I never got 100 against Australia in England and not that

it matters but it frustrated me that I never did and I got to 96 at lords they got millions and we're grinding away and I was properly grinding away I got to 96

and the 79th over or 78th over and Mitchell Marshall's bowling and I thought oh the new ball's round the corner I'm going to get it before the new ball and I aimed a big expansive drive got an inside edge on the thing

and you know however many games I'd played then as 2015 I looked too far ahead and it was a massive learner for me It's like, what, and I'm doing? Like, why was I worried about the new ball? That's like, you know, getting nicked off by the new ball. I was like, well, no.

And then actually, ironically, you know, the first ball of the second, of my second innings, there was legs up and half hollies the new ball, which I hit it for four. I was just like, if that ever just proves to you, you just got to try and stay in the moment. So, yeah, that's all I did, all I did in the 90s. And then, you get close, and I was like, no, just play it. Don't miss your last ball.

And that moment, I mean, because it was bizarre, really, wasn't it, how it came about. Brilliant. I mean, I suppose it was fitting as boomer, because he kind of caused me so much trouble since he can and came back into that side of Trambridge at Southampton. So, yeah, I just, as of Jude Asia, like, don't cut the ball coming in, but I felt okay to do it.

Just knocked out for one. You know, quite similar field, I suppose, you know, with that deep point out for the protection because I'd been scoring a few through the offside. And I just hit it for one, right? I think it was that. It would take me to 97, I think. That's like, I won more.

And then I didn't see the throw I didn't see the throw I was just jogging in I'm not the quickest between the wickets And then just Rudy said Get in get in Because obviously because I was dawdling Encourage Broom to throw it

So obviously then you turn around And all I can then see I didn't actually see the ball go past me Is Rudy going run run or something And then I looked and see Bajara My favourite fielder to ever chasing a ball Quite slow Thinking well he ain't getting that

You know from that From that very instant, you've kind of got that hundred. He moves to 97, the crowd applauded. Oh, there's overthrots. Oh, my word, that's going to run away to the boundary. It is. Cook's done it. He's reached his 100.

In his final test match, what an astounding achievement. England's leading run score at all time. He takes his helmet off. The crowd goes berserk. What a way to get to it. He got to a hundred at the Oval like that years ago against Pakistan. He's done it again now in his last match. He's embraced warmly by Joe Rooke.

What a magnificent moment. And the crowd just giving waves and waves of applause. Everyone on their feet. Well, you couldn't write it, could you? A 50 and 100 in his first test. A 50 and 100 in his last. I think the supports may go on until lunchtime, actually. Wow, what a moment for Kirk.

What was so nice to see as well, Joe Root noticed earlier that the ball was going for over for him. He celebrated, and once they both saw each other, it was an embrace. Both family, all family are here, wife, children. Very special moment indeed. Wow. Wow. I don't think I've ever seen.

They'll be quite like this at the overall. And I don't think they want to stop. They'll just keep going, I think. As well they may. It's not the way you'd expect to get to 100. He's waving his bat again. It's like an encore in a theatre. I think he's trying to get the crowd now to calm down

and let Root have a go. But they don't want to stop. They're just going to go on clapping. and the feeling I mean yeah like I mean probably the most emotional I suppose got close to

in that moment just because the reaction the kind of the dream finish and yeah I mean it was very humbling very humbling it took forever

didn't hit for the next wall and I remember walking down to Routi don't get out on it concentrate please buddy you know don't because he then had to face because we'd hit five

so I was at the non-strikeers and I mean it was like this constant noise it was very very special. That's twice over throws have come to, not your rescue exactly, but I mean, I rescued me, yeah. Well, yeah, defined.

The one, I mean, the one, you're talking about the one of the over here again, aren't you, with the with the, essentially it scored against Pakistan when people were literally saying, we're not sure that you should be picked for Australia, yeah. Yeah, and played a nice defensive shot to Mohammeda. Yes, you just

hurled it for four. Throat over the key was there? Lovely. Did you, did you think about at any stage about changing your mind? Because the way you'd finished and you still proved that you could play obviously that you were good enough

did it ever cross your mind? No not during that game no I think it was you know me pretty well that once you make a decision you know I'm fairly stubborn and actually part of my success

part of a lot of my success down to that a lot of my failings are probably down to that as well but no like it was you know very clear clear to me

was a dream come true isn't that yeah it was was so special on such a defining way to finish and Alistair Cook is out for 147 immediately the Indians run up and they shake

him by the hand and the oval crowd all 18,000 are on their feet that was just so unexpected and the Indians are all queuing up now to say well done and Johnny Beesto the new batsman

runs down to slap him on the shoulder well there we go we didn't know when it was going to happen when it would happen oh there we go we get the full the full flourish of the bat he turned

and in a slightly gallatorial way although he's never an exaggerator of things Alistair Cook understated I would say but yet

when you know him you know actually that's very heartfelt he scored his hundred that's the big news here today and now it's a chance of people just to say thank you and that kind of crowns it all is it I mean there you go it's done yeah it's done

but what a game of cricket is I'm gonna I'm gonna I don't think it'll be our last interview I hope not I hope not but thank you for everything that you've done for all of us too and all the listeners I think the reaction

the response and the feel of warmth that you must have from everybody must have must have been quite overwhelming isn't it Yeah, it's been a, it has just been one of the, just one of the great weeks. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Yo, I'm George the poet, and this is the BBC Concert Orchestra. Have you heard George's podcast? Some might say it's political, full of immersive stories.

Some might just like the fire poetry. We go from thoughts in my head to the ends, to the things that have. yet to be said. Black power, relationships, music, education, violence, influence and deep conversations. Some have said it's hard to define. Find out what it's about. Jump into have you heard George's podcast, Chapter 3. Listen on BBC Sounds.