England captain Alastair Cook is now the only Englishman to score 10,000 Test runs, and the youngest of the 12 who have achieved the feat. He is also England’s record holder for most Test tons.
By any standards, that’s mighty impressive, but the benchmark is still Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 runs.
Can Cook top that?
Barring injury, illness, or tragic loss of form, of course he can.
Cook is a stayer.
He scored an unbeaten Test century on debut against India at Nagpur in 2006, he missed the second Test through illness, but hasn’t missed a Test since,
Tendulkar averaged around 663 Test runs a year for 24 years, while Cook’s been averaging around the 1000 mark over a decade.
At 31 years of age, if Cook can last until he’s 37 and keep scoring 1000 Test runs a year, he will break Tendulkar’s record.
One thing is for sure, Cook has the other ten well and truly covered.
The pertinent facts, starting with career Test runs:
Sachin Tendulkar: 200 Tests – 15,921 runs, average 53.75 with 51 Test tons
Ricky Ponting: 168 – 13,378 – 51.85 – 41
Jacques Kallis: 166 – 13,289 – 55.37 – 45
Rahul Dravid: 164 – 13,288 – 52.31 – 36
Kumar Sangakkara: 134 – 12,400 – 57.40 – 38
Brian Lara: 131 – 11,953 – 52.88 – 34
Shivnarine Chanderpaul: 164 – 11,867 – 51.37 – 30
Mahela Jayawardene: 149 – 11,814 – 49.84 – 34
Allan Border: 156 – 11,174 – 50.56 – 27
Steve Waugh: 168 – 10,927 – 51.06 – 32
Sunil Gavaskar: 125 – 10,122 – 51.12 – 34
Alastair Cook: 128 – 10,042 – 46.49 – 28
How many Test innings to reach 10,000 runs?
Lara – 195
Tendulkar – 195
Sangakkara – 195
Ponting – 196
Dravid – 216
Jayawardene – 210
Gavaskar – 212
Kallis – 217
Cook – 229
Border – 235
Chanderpaul – 239
Waugh – 244
Age at achieving 10,000 Test runs:
Cook – 31 years, 5 months, 5 days
Tendulkar – 31 years, 10 months, 20 days
Kallis – 33 years, 4 months, 11 days
Ponting – 33 years, 5 months, 11 days
Jayawardene – 34 years, 6 months, 29 days
Next in line to reach 10,000 Test runs:
AB de Villiers: 176 Tests for 8074 runs
Ian Bell: 205 – 7727 Tests for runs
Hashim Amla: 196 – 7356 Tests for runs
Chris Gayle: 196 Tests for 7214 runs
England’s top Test batsmen:
Cook: 128 Tests for 10,042 at 46.49
Graham Gooch: 118 Tests for 8900 at 42.58
Alec Stewart: 133 Tests for 8463 at 39.54
David Gower: 117 Tests for 8231 at 44.25
Kevin Pietersen: 104 Tests for 8181 at 47.23
Geoff Boycott: 108 Tests for 8114 at 47.72
Carlos the Jackal
Guest
Will be a sad day for cricket if the dour Cook sits at the top of the all time run scoring chart. Sad day indeed -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Rudolph Lambert Fernandez
Roar Rookie
Thanks David, thoughtful piece and you've compiled amazing stats. You're right the benchmark is Sachin. But that isn't just about his runs but the resistance he overcame for every run against his name - the sheer range and ferocity of the bowling challenge. VRcric - thanks for drawing attention to this. Sadly, not the first comparison relying purely on stats but without wider context http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/youngest-8000-test-runs-alastair-cook-nowhere-sachin-tendulkar-greatness Or the only such comparison http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/statistics-kumar-sangakkara-sachin-tendulkar-greatest-bradman The point isn't 'if Cook gets to play long enough he'll beat Sachin'. The point is 'Like Sangakkara,Cook is probably never going to get the chance because the greatest Test/ODI bowlers are long gone'. Cook's runs - and they will be many - virtually irrelevant. Longevity (not years played, but actual innings played) is under-rated. Chris Kettlewell - thanks for the point about Bradman's average; one that many historians and analysts have overlooked.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
You just never know how a player is going to go when they get into their 30's. You get some players like Voges who just keep getting better in their late 30's, but most players abilities tend to drop off as they get older, and it varies greatly for different players when that happens. Some players seem to be going great and then out of nowhere just have a form slump they never recover from. He could hit that point at 34 or 40 or anywhere in between. I think he'll be pushing it to still be playing test cricket averaging 1000 run years when he's 37. But it's certainly possible.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
But the point is that people decline as they get older and few people are able to keep a career going that long. It's actually a massive achievement to be able to have a career of that length. It's not like other players who may have been just as good as Tendulkar in their prime were also just as good as 16 year olds and 40 year olds but just had stronger competition and that was the only reason they couldn't have as long a career. To be able to play a decent test level both so early in his career and so late in his career gave him the longevity to pull it off. For ages Ponting looked like someone right on par with Tendulkar, but as he got older he couldn't maintain the standard and dropped off several years younger than Tendulkar did. You could just as well ask the question if Bradman could have maintained the level of play he played if he had played as many tests as players do these days. Cook won't need to play nearly as long to get to 200 tests. He gave Tendulkar about a 5 year head start, age-wise and beat him to 10,000 test runs despite taking 34 more innings to get there. That's playing a lot of tests. Maybe he gets to play more innings in the same number of tests compared to some others because he's in a team that pretty rarely wins by an innings.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It is interesting that in the list of England's top run-scorers they don't have a single batsman with a 50+ average.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
England definitely play a lot more tests than others. While Cook did start reasonably young, it was nowhere near as young as Tendulkar and yet he managed to play a lot more tests at the same age.
VRcric
Guest
Ohh..it's not fair, Will we remember to Great Sachin only for his longevity?? He has dominated & faced the best bowlers like McGrath ,wasim,warne, waqar,Wales, murli, etc. And he had equally maintained his great performance in ODI & tests.His strike rate in ODI was 89 that time.He can only be compared to Viv Richards. Sachin's batting skill,shots,class everything was just amazing.There can never be another Sachin Tendulkar.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Cook averages 39 vs Australia in Tests. But that figure is skewed massively by his 2010-11 series. Take out that series and in his other 25 Ashes Tests Cook has struggled badly, averaging just 28.
English twizz
Guest
Root will take the records in time
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Good job. I thought those stats for Amla and ABDV were way off! England play so many tests compared to SA. I can't understand why Australia, England and India don't play SA in a 5 Test series. Worried they may be humbled over 5 Tests because the SA team has been so good over the past 10 years?? ;-)
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Should the first team read "Australia"? It's impressive how South Africa has kept both Tendulkar's and Cook'ss averages so low..... The best bowling attack in the world, and has been for a while :-)
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
lol, or burning effigies
Timbo
Guest
I would suggest Root is the most talented of the present England generation.
steve
Guest
So? Can anyone see Alastair getting death threats when he's approaching sachins record?
steve
Guest
Im sure Cook boasts an exceptional average while playing in India, above the mid 50s im pretty sure
David Lord
Expert
Harvey Wilson, Sideline Comm, and BurgyGreen, these stats show what Alastair Cook has to do to overtake Sachin Tendulkar. v England: Tendulkar - 39 Tests, 3630 runs, average 55, Test tons 11. Cook - 30 - 2117 - 46.62 - 4 v Bangladesh; Tendulkar - 7 - 820 - 136.66 - 5. Cook - 4 - 401 - 61.59 - 2. v England: Tendulkar - 32 - 2535 - 51.73 - 7 v india: Cook - 20 - 1735 - 54.21 - 5. v New Zealand: Tendulkar - 24 - 1595 - 46.91 - 4. Cook - 13 - 1024 - 44.52 - 3 v Pakistan: Tendulkar - 18 - 1057 - 42.28 - 2. Cook - 14 - 1179 - 47.16 - 4. v South Africa: Tendullar - 25 - 1741 - 42.46 - 7. Cook - 15 - 995 - 35.53 - 2. v Sri Lanka: Tendulkar - 25 - 1995 - 60.45 - 9. Cook - 15 - 1156 - 50.26 - 3. v West Indies: Tendulkar - 21 - 1630 - 54.33 - 3. Cook - 17 - 1435 - 57.40 - 5. v Zimbabwe: Tendulkar - 9 - 918 - 76.50 - 3. Cook has never played against Zimbabwe. Totals: Tendulkar - 200 - 15921 - 53.78 - 51. Cook - 128 - 10042 - 46.49 - 28.
Timbo
Guest
"I presume it is something about being one of the few openers (only?) on the list, but still, amazing that his average is so low." You also have to factor in that he opens in about half his tests in England - probably the most difficult place in the world to be an opener with the moving ball. No-one can deny Sachin's greatness, but if Cook had opened in half his tests in India, I'm sure his average would be well above 50.
Andy
Guest
Which is why i said for the last 5 years, Strauss retired in 2012 and hadnt been good for a couple of years previous to that.
The Bush
Roar Guru
I doubt Pieterson, considering he debuted at 25 and "only" had 8,000 runs at the age of 34 when they dropped him, would have ever had a chance of doubling that... But I agree, he was the more talented batsmen of the present England generation.
Liam
Guest
"If he wasn’t good enough (and as we know India has not had a shortage of good batsmen) he wouldn’t have lasted that long." Let's be clear here; are you suggesting that India would, at any point, have dropped Sachin Tendulkar? If you are saying that they would, then you are just incorrect. Tendulkar, over the last few years of his career, underperformed outrageously, and India did nothing, allowing him to choose his time, Regardless of the merits of that decision, for you to suggest that, for the entire duration of Tendulkar's stay he was at the peak of his powers is disingenuous at best. Regardless, Cook will not be better than Tendulkar, regardless of how many runs he makes in the future. He has been very good, and a worthy leader of England, but he is not even the best bat of his generation of england players, with Kevin Pieterson pipping him quite easily. If Pieterson were allowed to resume playing for England - instead of being dropped because Cook and Straus hated him - he could very well have made more runs than Tendulkar too, and would have a better claim to being better. Stats are, mostly, boring. David, please come up with something more interesting to say.