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English captain Alastair Cook will be looking to dominate the upcoming Ashes like he did in 2010-11, where he scored 766 runs at 127.66, and could be the key to England winning the series.
His 766 runs is the second most by an Englishman in an Ashes series. Only legendary English batsman Walter Hammond’s has more in any series, scoring 905 runs in the 1928-29 Ashes.
Cook’s wicket could be vital if Australia want to reclaim the Ashes after three losing series in a row.
He is already one of the most successful English Test batsmen ever.
Cook has played 97 Test matches to record 7801 runs at 47.85. He is currently sixth in total runs, with current batsman Kevin Pietersen having around 80 more runs than him.
Graham Gooch has the most with 8900 at 42.58. Both Pietersen and Cook could pass Gooch in the next year or so.
Cook is also still 28-years-old and could easily reach well over 10,000 runs by the time he calls stumps on his career.
However it was not smooth sailing for Cook during the latest Ashes series, having a grim home Ashes series by his high standards.
He scored 277 runs at 27.7 and his highest score was just 62.
Some would say he didn’t need to make big scores.
Ian Bell was the best of the batsman in the series, with three hundreds and over 562 runs.
England didn’t dominate the series like the 3-0 score line reflected.
Cook will want to make sure he is scoring big hundreds if they want to beat an enthusiastic and determined Australian line-up.
Cook has already found some form in the Australia. He smashed 154 in the washed out match versus Australia A.
This was not the greatest preparation for either side, with England’s innings taking almost four days to finish.
Cook and likely opening partner Michael Carberry took the opportunity in the sunshine to get some much needed form and show the Australian fans they mean business.
The Australian bowlers will be looking to bang the ball in short to get him out as quickly as possible and also be looking to get an lbw or knick early on in the innings.
Who do you think will score the most runs during the 2013-14 Ashes series?
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