by Sam Cook has reached the pinnacle of a very good career. No, because he is the only cook at Essex for the first time. Instead, rather than waiting for the England option to come to him, he is determined to claim it by expanding his range of interests.
Cook has been a domestic leader since his 20-year-old Essex breakthrough in 2017 with plenty of silverware to boot. He has won the County Championship twice, the Bob Willis Trophy, the Vitality Blast, and the First.
His 265 first-class wickets cost less than 20 runs each. In fact, statistician James McCaghrey pointed out that Cook has the second lowest average (18.04) of any bowler to take 200 County Championship wickets since 1990. Muttiah Muralitharan is the leading man, with Mohammad Abbas, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose the only others under 20. Decent company.
In recent years, he has also become an excellent rallyer with a white ball.
But despite an impressive CV that is enough to earn selection for the Lions, the full England squad never came calling.
At 26, Cook is sanguine about this, but more determined than ever to play for England. Not too tall, like Ollie Robinson, or super fast, like the voguish Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue, operating instead in the low 80mphs.
“I’ve always had good conversations with England, through Mo Bobat and Luke Wright,” Cook tells Telegraph Sport. “And I was told that speed is not a problem. My problem is that the spot in the Test team that I am gunning for has been covered by the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Robinson.
“They have the same pace as me, and they’ve been so good for a long time, all-time greats who are so good at staying fit. The spots have tended to open up in the roles where England have tried to balance the attack. That doesn’t mean those spots will never open.”
Cook is no longer considering Test cricket as the only format in which he could represent England. To that end, it was a “very conscious decision”, supported by England, to take opportunities in franchise cricket this winter, rather than playing for the Lions. He played in the UAE T10 League last month, and will turn out for Joburg Super Kings in South Africa’s SA20 in the new year. He even put his name forward for the IPL auction, but didn’t make the cut.
“I’ve done the Lions for the last few years and I wanted to try something different, expand my game, experience new conditions, new environments and play against the best players I can this winter this. I’m already picking up different pieces, and it’s great to play in different conditions,” explains Cook.
“I’ve done that for a couple of winters and it still hasn’t been picked. That’s the definition of insanity isn’t it? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I don’t want to stand still. I want to try to push my way into it and really see how I can improve as a cricketer.
“Even putting my name forward for the IPL. I was realistic that it probably wouldn’t happen. But that time of year, April and May, is my bread and butter in the Branch. I’m very proud of how I’ve turned out, and I don’t want to take it for granted. But I want to add strings to my bow, I want to diversify my game. I don’t want to stand by and wait for things to happen.”
Cook is also sure to add a little pace. That could be “even one or two mph”, or making sure his fitness means he can bowl faster for longer.
“That might mean managing the amount of bowling I’m doing,” he says. “I’m a bit older now and I want to manage my workloads so I can be at my best and fastest for longer periods, rather than going through every game.”
That leaves Cook unconcerned about the air: the current volume of cricket at county level makes it impossible for a fast bowler to play every game in every format. That’s something he’s tried to do in recent years – last year, he missed just one league game through injury, and three over the Blast and Hundred. He is the Essex representative at the Association of Professional Cricketers.
‘We need to play a little less cricket’
“There are two sides to me talking about this,” he says. “As a representative, you are speaking for the dressing room, and they have that attitude. What I really felt about the longevity of the game and how we sustain county and first-class cricket, we need to play a little bit less.
“I fully sympathize with the members of the county who see it differently, but I asked are we giving the best possible product to the supporters with the talent of this country? There are many incredible cricketers in this country but I don’t think the schedule is helping us showcase it in the best way. No other country travels like we do, with the amount of cricket we have in the time we do.
“I’m also one of the few fast bowlers who plays all formats throughout the season, so first-hand I’ve seen how tough it can be.”
Cook believes the Championship has remained as tough as ever in his time at the top, but T20 has risen. Where once there were stages of games that players could go through, that’s no longer the case. In addition, broadcast streaming has increased general accountability, and each tournament is a shop window for another. All this means that there is no phase of the season that goes quietly for the best players.
“It’s not a high-performance schedule for a fast bowler who plays all formats,” he says. “As a bowler, you should just try to get through the games. In terms of strength, you don’t have time to train and improve, or get fitter, because you’re trying hard to come back between games.
“As a bowler recovering from a Championship game, you really need at least three days to recover even if you’ve played a proper four-day game. Currently, he is four days on, three days off, and playing seven weeks out of eight. You then have to travel across the country, which slows everything down. In the Blast, games are often on consecutive days with long distances between them.
“I don’t think you realize when you’re in there how physically broken you are. For me, it wasn’t until the end of the season when I actually had three weeks off, doing nothing, that I really realized how broken I was. I then went back into the gym and built my strength back up.
“I think back to my performances in the Hundred and then for Essex in September, I was physically broken. Our S&C coach said that when I went into pre-season, I looked a little taller running now, just because my back was so tight in the season. I watch videos of him and think ‘you look f—- to be honest’.”
Cook believes some Test hopefuls are not immediately fading away to the “lucrative but premature” franchise scene, but believes more could be done to make the county game attractive to players and fans. For now, though, he has to get his head down to earn an England place.
