Alastair Cook ‘cried’ as he told team-mates of retirement

Alastair Cook made a century on his Test debut in 2006

Alastair Cook says he cried as he told England team-mates he was to retire from international cricket, a decision he had been considering for six months.

The opener, 33, will step down from England duty after the final Test against India, which starts on Friday.

Cook, who averages 18.62 in 2018, said he had lost his “mental edge”.

“I was a couple of beers in, otherwise I would have cried more than I actually did,” said Cook, who told the team after the fourth-Test win on Sunday.

“At the end of the game I said, ‘It might be good news, it might be sad for some, it might be happy for others, but it’s time and I have done my bit. I will play one more game’.

“There was a little bit of silence, then Mo [Ali] said something, everybody laughed and it was forgotten about.”

Cook told captain Joe Root before the fourth Test at Southampton – which England won to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series – and informed head coach Trevor Bayliss during the game.

“Over the last six months there have been signs in my mind this was going to happen,” said Cook, who is England’s highest Test run-scorer.

“I had always been mentally tough and had that edge to everything I’ve done – and that edge had kind of gone.”

‘I was not the most talented cricketer’

Cook has scored 12,254 runs and made 32 centuries in 160 Tests – all England records.

He said the highlights of his 12-year career were being named man of the series in Australia in 2010-11 and India in 2012.

Cook scored 766 runs in England’s Ashes triumph in Australia in 2010-11, and made three successive centuries to help England win in India for the first time in 27 years.

“I can look back and say I became the best player I could have become and that means a lot to me,” said Cook, who is sixth on the all-time list of Test run-scorers.

“I was never the most talented cricketer, but I definitely got everything out of my ability.” – bbc.com