One road left of left hand drive

No player has given more to the England cricket shirt No player has got more out of their ability No player has shown more mental strength than Alastair Cook More than that he is the nicest cricketer we have ever had Thanks for all the memories Cookie If there was a competition for the most profound of tributes to the retiring Cook former England captain Michael Vaughan would win hands downCook has been Englands finest batsman of his era and his record as batsman and captain in successful Ashes series 2013 and 2015 must be spoken of in heavyweight proportions Yet Yorkshireman Vaughan Englands 2005 Asheswinning captain was being presumptuous if not a touch disrespectful to all the tough and passionate men who have played under an England cap in years gone byEnglish cricket has had some real tough cookies pun unintended and to be fair despite all the worlds scientific advancements a device to measure commitment is yet to be invented Overlavish praise aside this is not an attempt to undervalue Cooks achievements The Oval where the fifth and final Test of this seasons Pataudi Trophy series begins tomorrow presents an opportunity for Cook to make history A century off his trusted Gray Nicolls blade will make him the first England player to score a hundred in his first and final TestIn world cricket that has not been achieved by a retiree since Greg Chappell carved his 182 against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early 1984 yes Mohammed Azharuddin scored a ton against South Africa at Bangalore but he had not announced his retirement The other two on the centuryinfirstandlastTest list are Australians Reggie Duff and Bill PonsfordDuff scored his 1902 debut hundred coming in at No 10 while his swansong Test ton was scored as an opener in 1905 He passed away six years later mdash reportedly let down by alcoholism Ponsford scored a double century in his last Test match Don Bradman also got a double ton and they put on 451 for the second wicket Talking of double century efforts Cook has five to his name and his last one mdash the unbeaten 244 against Australia in Melbourne mdash was plundered less than a year ago The drawn result halted Australias march of three Test wins in a rowIt was an innings which came on the back of some poor scores His last six innings measured up to only 83 runs the axe was hanging really low Cook attributed this weeks decision to retire because there is nothing left in the tank But who is to say he is bereft of hunger to drive away in a blaze of glory And what a farewell it will be to take a hundred off the sharp Indian attack which has been let down so badly by their batting colleagues except for Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar PujaraThe Indian bowlers have not allowed Cook to go past 29 and probably the series most satisfying moment for him would be the catch he took at short leg to dismiss Kohli in the second innings at the Rose Bowl However no one should be surprised if the Oval offers both teams better batting conditions than all the four venues and great players like Cook can be banked upon to exploit battingfriendlier conditions to the maximumIn all probability spectators at the London venue will be informed that Cook needs only a single to hit the 1000run mark at the Oval by far the most successful of current Test batsmen at the ground the next best is South African Hashim Amlas 434 runs After Lords it is his most rewarding ground in terms of runs and hell want to go out on a high Having said that Cook will know that the best practitioners of batting have not had fairytale endings at the Oval Most famous among those men are Sir Donald Bradman who was bowled for a duck by a Eric Hollies googly 70 English summers agoSome reports suggested that Bradman did not see the spinners delivery because his eyes were filled with tears after England skipper Norman Yardley got his team to give a threecheers reception Bradman admitted that the gesture stirred his emotions very deeply which made him anxious but he debunked the tears theory There were no tears in my eyes he told his last biographer Roland Perry in 1995It will be a highly emotional time for Cook too and irrespective of how successful his farewell will turn out hed be glad to know that when he walks up the pavilion in an England shirt for the last time he follows in the footsteps of fellow great English batsmen to end their Test careers at the Oval mdash Sir Jack Hobbs Peter May Ted Dexter David Gower Mike Atherton and Surreys Director of Cricket Alec Stewart Hopefully Vaughan is ready with another sterling tributemiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates