Let’s cherish England greats Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad while we still can

Thirtysomethings: Stuart Broad (left), Jimmy Anderson and Alastair Cook
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Tom Collomosse7 September 2017

Cricket may be about to change for good, but whatever path the game takes, England have three men whose place in the pantheon is assured.

As Ottis Gibson, England’s departing fast-bowling coach, reflected: “I can look back and tell my grandchildren that I worked with Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. It is a remarkable thing to be able to say.”

On the first day of the final Test of the summer, however, it felt appropriate to wonder in how many more home internationals these three greats will appear together.

Their ages — Anderson is 35, Cook 32 and Broad 31 — and styles mean the new £2billion television deal agreed by the Indian Premier League is unlikely to benefit them. It is a sign of the times. Cook is England’s leading run-scorer in Test history, Anderson and Broad the most prolific bowlers, yet in Twenty20, other skills are a priority.

All three insist they will continue to play for England for many years, particularly Anderson, who hoped to take his 500th Test wicket in this match. But elite sport has a habit of forcing abrupt changes of plan, especially with an Ashes tour ahead.

Series against Australia remain watershed moments for England cricketers, especially away from home and especially if they are unsuccessful, as most are. Since Mike Gatting’s side won Down Under in 1987, England have prevailed only once, under Andrew Strauss in 2010-11. Players can start the tours feeling invincible, only to have their certainties shattered.

The previous tour, in 2013-14, followed a 3-0 win over Australia in the English summer, and England travelled full of optimism. They lost 5-0 and Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen never played for them again and Tim Bresnan did not feature in another Test.

So, however relaxed and confident the trio might feel, and however far away thoughts of the end might be, we should cherish them while they continue to play together.

Cook passed 10,000 Test runs — the only England batsman to do so — against Sri Lanka last summer. Before this match, he had 11,602, but he recalled: “I remember speaking to our team psychologist about it when [former South Africa all-rounder] Jacques Kallis got to 10,000 and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to get to 10,000, because then the pressure would be off a bit’.

“And he said, ‘No, I bet the pressure is worse’. Actually, he was closer to the mark because while it is not worse, it is just the same. It certainly doesn’t get any easier. Whenever you walk out, you’re still on nought and you walk out with the same nerves and the same pressure on you.”

The ability of Cook, Broad and Anderson to handle such stress is why they have been so good for so long, but still we should not take them for granted.

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