The eleven sixes of Alastair Cook

There has been, broadly appropriately, a vast outpouring of thoughts on Alastair Cook's last day of cricket. I have little to add to the general analysis, so I just want to talk about seeing him hit a six.

To appreciate how rare it was, it should be noted that in making 12,472 test runs, he has made precisely 11 sixes. almost all of the other great test accumulators have hit fifty or more (Sangakkara - his closest comparator - has exactly 51). Even Dravid made 21. Gilchrist has the record with 100. The only major run scorer who has fewer sixes is Boycott, who only managed eight. And as a proportion of runs, even he out-sixes Cook.

I saw Cook's last six, against Sri Lanka at Lord's in June 2016. One of only three in England. The only one scored in the second half of his career (this is slightly misleading, eight of those sixes came in a short period 2010-12). A freakish result.

I thought at one point that there was a book in it, on the evolution of big hitting. It would have helped that they are remarkably evenly shared - scored against all of the major test opponents save Pakistan. Regardless, I don't have time. Anyway, here is the list:

13 March 2008. vs NZ, Wellington. 60 runs (W). b. Martin
26 Feb 2009. vs WI, Bridgetown. 94 (D). b. Benn
12 March 2010. vs Bangladesh, Chittagong. 173 (W). b. Shakib Al Hasa
12 March 2010. vs Bangladesh, Chittagong. 173 (W). b. Madmudullah
15 Dec 2010. vs Australia, Perth. 32 (L). b. Harris
19 Jul 2012. vs South Africa, Oval. 115 (L). b. Steyn
2 Aug 2012. vs South Africa, Headingley. 46 (D). b. Duminy
23 Nov 2012. vs India, Mumbai. 122 (W). b. Ojha
5 Dec 2012. vs India, Kolkata. 190 (W). b. Ashwin
5 Dec 2012. vs India, Kolkata. 190 (W). b. Ashwin
9 Jun 2016. vs Sri Lanka, Lord's, 49* (D). b. Eranga

No-one will ever bat like that again.

Bibliography, August 2018

BOTM: A. Hartley, The Zanzibar chest (2003)

R. Cowan, Common Ground (2015)

S. Fay & D. Kynaston, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket (2018)

R. Gough, History of Myddle (1700)

H. Lyttelton, As it occurred to me (2006)

C. Nixey The Darkening Age (2018)
A. Rajan, Twirlymen  (2010)

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018)

D. Sandbrook, White Heat (2006)

Nixey first. I don't think it's the worst book I have ever read, as some reviewers have alleged, but it is terrible. Its faults are documented well here, to which I would add my huge irritation that it claims to advance a thesis, but has no narrative or chronological analysis, jumping from the third through seventh centuries with abandon. 

Everything else was much better. I think I would put Aidan Hartley's memoir top, though both Rosling and Fay & Kynaston's books were also outstanding. It's nicely written, with the right balance of personal and contextual that makes a good memoir, and, though some of the territory is well trodden (e.g., Rwanda), lots is not. Lots of it is also quite grim, so there's much credit in making it not only a engrossing read, but not a horrific one. It's also not too long: always welcome.