A couple of beers and few tears: how Alastair Cook broke news of his retirement to his England teammates

England’s highest ever run-scorer told Joe Root before the fourth Test against India, coach Trevor Bayliss during it, and the rest of the squad after in an emotional team address

Professional athletes die two deaths. Long before their heart stops beating, their obituaries have been written once over. And as Alastair Cook stepped out onto the turf where he would take his last sporting breaths, a strange sensation seemed to overcome him, one he instantly tried to swallow down. After 160 Tests, 32 centuries and one of the great England careers, he is calling it a day. But first, there is one last job to do.

The decision, he admits, was crystallised over a period of six months, during which he could feel the “mental edge” that had always defined his game blunting within him. The news was broken to a distraught dressing room in the hours after England’s win in the fourth Test against India on Sunday. But not until Tuesday evening, when he leafed through the newspapers at his local golf club in Bedfordshire, did the magnitude of his choice begin to sink in.

“It’s been a bit surreal,” he said at The Oval on Wednesday of the reaction to his retirement. “I didn’t see a lot of it until last night. One of my friends rang me to check if I was still alive.

“Over the last six months, there have been signs in my mind that this was going to happen. I’ve always had that mental edge, I’ve always been incredibly tough. And that edge had gone. The stuff I found easy before wasn’t quite there. For me, that was the biggest thing.”

Briefly, Cook considered taking a break from the game, perhaps missing the winter tours to Sri Lanka and the West Indies. But deep down, the solution was staring him in the face. The fire had gone. “People say you know when you know,” he said. “And that’s so true.”

Cook informed his captain Joe Root before the fourth Test, coach Trevor Bayliss during it, and the rest of the side in an emotional address after victory. Had the series still been level at 2-2, Cook reckons, he would have kept his counsel until after the series was over. As it was, he felt he could lie no longer.

Cook revealed how he broke news of his England retirement to his teammates (AP)

“It might be sad for some, it might be happy for others,” Cook told his team-mates. “But it’s time. I’ve done my bit. If picked, the next game will be my last game.” Naturally, there were tears. “I was a couple of beers in,” he admitted. “Which I needed to be, otherwise I would have cried more than I actually did.”

As for his legacy: well, that will be for others to judge. But when asked about his proudest moments, Cook plumped for the away wins in Australia and India in 2010/11 and 2012/13 respectively, three years during which he bestrode the world of batting. “I look back, and I think I became the best player I could,” he said. “I’ve never been the most talented cricketer, but I think I got everything out of my ability.”

Cook hopes to play on at country level for another three years (Reuters)

Regrets? He’s had a few. It’s clear he still bears a good deal of ill-will towards the ECB for their handling of the sacking of Kevin Pietersen affair, and the way he was made to carry the can for a decision in which he had not had the final say. “I was involved without making the final decision,” he argued. “The fallout of that wasn’t great for English cricket, and it wasn’t great for me.”

The next chapter, whatever it holds, remains unwritten. Cook has never been the most natural of performers in the media. He has never taken a coaching course. For the next three seasons, motivation permitting, he will continue to churn out runs for Essex, where he has just signed a new deal. More imminently, there is a third child on the way with his wife Alice, and more imminently still, there is a Test match still to be won.

Cook was taken back by the reaction to his announcement (PA)

“Hopefully I can score some runs, and then go,” he said. And as an elegy for Cook the batsman and Cook the man, you could scarcely do better than that.