It seemed apt that Alastair Cook should reach such a significant milestone in the most understated of circumstances.
A pressure-free run chase of a small total against undemanding, going through the motions bowling, in front of an understandably meagre crowd in a contest that, for all but a very few, won’t live particularly long in the memory.
Cook will be one of the few, as will Chris Woakes who finally hinted at becoming more than just a very good county seamer and Jimmy Anderson who, quite remarkably, reached the summit of the world Test bowling rankings for the first time in his career.
I’m one of those who doesn’t like seeing Test cricket fail to live up to the high-profile international sport it should be capable of attaining but a resigned sigh trumps the heightened annoyance that once would have surfaced.
Too much cricket, minimal preparation time, not the Ashes and so on and so on means that nothing will change until the scruff of the neck is forcefully grabbed and given a good shaking. And for all the talk of a Test championship by those at the helm, let’s not be so optimistic as to hold our collective breath.
Anyway, enough of my middle-aged grumbling and back to Cook.
If it wasn’t already on your radar and the flag mocked up by the English Cricket Board – hashtag and all – couldn’t force feed you the required information, the England captain reached the rather rare feat of 10,000 runs in the Test arena in Chester-le-Street.
He didn’t need that many when strolling out for his first innings of the summer against the Sri Lankans at Headingley last week but a failure in Leeds and another low score in the first innings in the north east meant that his moment of destiny had to make do with a low-key ascension as the series was wrapped up in fine style.
And there was no fanfare as, in reassuringly trademark style, Cook timed a delivery drifting into his pads through the leg side for a boundary and that was that. There was a satisfied grin and then it was back to the task at hand.
I mentioned that it seemed apt because Cook appears to exist under the radar in comparison to many of his peers. There is no hyperbole, no fan mania, no outlandish comments but just a bloke who bats, keeps on batting and then bats some more.
It is cricket of a bygone era when Cook is front and centre yet that is not to criticise as among the various attributes that make up the international batsman circa 2016, discipline and stubbornness still have their place and as long as Test cricket is in operation they always will.
To quote an oft-used adage, there is more than one way to skin a cat and Cook sticks resolutely to his guns by continuing to utilise his own method.
It is unspectacular, it is often aesthetically displeasing, it can look cumbersome and forced but, and this is all that really matters when push comes to shove, it is highly effective.
Too much is made of the way in which runs are scored and if you play in a style that mocks the traditional then you’re more open to criticism, whether it is deserved or not, than those who do.
Cook, Steve Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul spring readily to mind as batsmen who will never please a purists’ soul but have the knack of doing what they are selected to do and, ultimately, judgement arrives solely in the number accumulated.
Ten thousand, as all the dozen who have reached such a tally will attest, demands longevity, resilience and skill which are abilities Cook possesses in abundance and unless I’m very much mistaken, there are plenty more runs to come.
It’s very easy to compare the Essex left-hander with those he has joined but I’m not sure that really serves any purpose. He is, in his respective era, a very, very good player and I doubt there is a team in the world who, when it comes to Test matches, wouldn’t give their right arm to have the name ‘Cook’ at the top of the teamsheet.
Greatness is tricky to define but in one factor alone – the number 10,000 – Cook will forever be one of a select group and you can’t really argue with that.
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