https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/13/alastair-cook-retires-from-cricketDamn. Forget to go to a cricket match for 28 years or so and you miss stuff.
This was the first match which made me aware of him.
214 v Australia, 2005 - Double hundred serves notice
Ahead of the fifth Ashes Test at the Kia Oval, Cook gave Australia an insight into what to expect in the years to come by crushing a double hundred - 214 in 238 balls - as Essex put the tourists to the sword at Chelmsford
Bruised by England at Trent Bridge, an attack of Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Shaun Tait and Michael Kasprowicz shipped 502 runs in a single day, with Cook and Ravi Bopara (135) laying siege.
