19 May,2016 08:28 AM IST | | AFP
England captain Alastair Cook said yesterday he was well aware that his looming membership of the 10,000 Test-run club would be a significant landmark in an already successful career
Alastair Cook
Leeds (United Kingdom): England captain Alastair Cook said yesterday he was well aware that his looming membership of the 10,000 Test-run club would be a significant landmark in an already successful career.
Alastair Cook
The 31-year-old left-handed opener needs just 36 more runs to become the first Englishman - and only 12th player overall - to score 10,000 runs in Tests and he will hope to get there during this week's first Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley, which starts today.
"It would mean a lot and hopefully I can get there sooner rather than later so we can talk about something else," said Cook. "It's a big milestone in terms of the people who have done it previously so it would be great to try and score these 36 runs," he added.
Meanwhile, Cook said players had "nothing to fear" from the introduction of a points system as former skipper Mike Atherton said his reaction to the proposal was one of "profound indifference".
Today's first Test between England and Sri Lanka is set to break fresh ground by being the first in men's cricket where a new points system, modelled on the one used by England and Australia for the women's Ashes, will be employed.
In a bid to provide further "context", the results of all the international fixtures this season between England and Sri Lanka will be put together to produce an overall winner. English cricket officials hope to have a similar system in place for Pakistan's tour of England in the second half of the season.
