Alastair Cook: England captain becomes youngest batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs

Sri Lanka's battling second innings presented Cook with the opportunity to get the final five runs needed to reach the milestone

Alastair Cook salutes the crowd after reaching 10,000 Test runs (Getty)

Alastair Cook has become the first England player to reach 10,000 Test runs, becoming the youngest man from any country to do so in the process.

The England captain had needed just 36 runs to reach the milestone before the first Test at Headingley, but, with only one opportunity to bat, he could only muster 16 runs – still leaving him 20 short going into the second Test at Chester-Le-Street.

There was more frustration for Cook in the first innings as he could only manage 15, leaving him five agonising runs short, and with Sri Lanka following on for the second Test in succession, it looked as if he would have to wait until the third Test at Lord’s for another chance.

However an impressive rearguard effort from the tourists saw them eventually overhaul the enormous deficit, with Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath frustrating England’s bowlers for much of the day with an obdurate stand of 116.

In the end though Sri Lanka were dismissed for 475, a lead of 78, as James Anderson took 5/58, his third five-wicket haul of the series.

Cook then got his chance earlier than expected and took it in the second over of the innings, clipping a four off his pads that just trickled its way to the boundary and brought the crowd at Chester-Le-Street to their feet in acknowledgement of the feat.

The England captain is only the 12th man in cricket history to reach the milestone, as well as the youngest ever, beating India’s Sachin Tendulkar to the feat by five months.

A tribute to England captain Cook appeared on the big screen in Durham (Getty)

Cook, who made his Test debut aged just 21, has enjoyed a hugely successful England career, making a century and a half-century in that maiden Test and never looking back.

As well as being England’s leading run scorer, he also leads the way with Test centuries, his 28 hundreds putting him well ahead of Kevin Pietersen, Wally Hammond and Geoffrey Boycott.