Alastair Cook became only the fifth player to score a century in both his debut and last Test match. Cook completed his 33rd century in his last innings at The Oval on Monday to achieve this incredible landmark.
This is Cook’s 161st Test match. In 2006, at the age of 21, he made a century on debut against India in Nagpur.
There are 100 players who had scored a ton in their debut match and 19 players who had scored a ton in their last match (among those who played at least 10 test matches).
There have been only four players in Test cricket history before Cook who have scored a ton in their last and first match. Cook joins Mohammad Azharuddin, Greg Chappell, Reginald Duff and William Ponsford in the list.
Players with centuries in first and last Tests:
| Name |
Country |
First match |
Last match runs |
| Mohammad Azharuddin |
India |
110 & DNB |
9 & 102 |
| Greg Chappell |
Australia |
108 & DNB |
182 & DNB |
| Reginald Duff |
Australia |
32 & 104 |
146 & DNB |
| William Ponsford |
Australia |
110 & 27 |
266 & 22 |
Alastair Cook is also now the most successful left-handed batsman in the history of Test cricket. Cook went past Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 12,400 runs on Monday during his final innings. He moved ahead of Sangakkara when he reached 76 on day four.
England’s all-time leading run-getter is now the fifth highest run scorer in Test cricket.
He sits behind Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid.
