Alastair Cook: “To be able to bat like that, you’ve got to be doing the right stuff mentally and still be on it”

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England opener Alastair Cook admitted that he had doubts about his future, but those fears were quelled after his unbeaten 244 against Australia in the recent Ashes series.

Cook magnificent double century came in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, which ended up being the only match that England didn’t lose in their 4-0 series loss.

Prior to his knock of 244 not out, Cook had failed to pass 50 in his last 10 innings. In fact, before going through the small stretch of bad form, Cook struck a superb 243 against the West Indies in August 2017.

“To bat as badly as I did for two months, and then for 10 hours bat as well as I’ve ever done, is quite strange,” he was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “It shows I have got it. To be able to bat like that, you’ve got to be doing the right stuff mentally and still be on it.

“I batted like I did when it was as hard as it could be mentally – because you’re thinking: ‘If I get another couple of low scores, things are really going to get tough for me’. To keep going like that and then deliver shows you have something.”

While Cook surpassed 12,000 Test runs in his most recent innings, he conceded that he doubts about his international future swirled in his head during his disappointing run of form with the bat.

“There were moments when it was tough,” he admitted. “You question yourself – ‘am I still good enough to play at the real elite level?’ Not that the hunger has run out, but is it all worth it?

“It is an easy story to write when a slightly older player isn’t scoring runs – ‘is he going to give up? Is he thinking about it?’

“When you keep piling the effort in and you’re not doing very well for two months in a big series, you start doubting yourself.”