Cook became the 12th player in history to score 10,000 Test runs during England’s nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Durham last month but he is almost 6,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 matches.
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Captain Alistair Cook hopes pace bowler Stephen Finn can join the party as England chase a 3-0 series whitewash over Sri Lanka in the third Test from Thursday at Lord’s.
Amir, the youngest of the trio, was on Sunday named in Pakistan’s Test squad for their upcoming tour of England and is set to return to the scene of the crime – for which he served time in a young offenders institute – next month, although a decision on whether he will be granted a United Kingdom visa is still pending.
Cook goes into this match having now become the first England batsman to score 10,000 Test runs after reaching the landmark at the Riverside.
Alastair Cook has called on the International Cricket Council to institute mandatory life bans for all proven match-fixers. “H e is a special player, and I will have no problem selecting him”.
“I just think if there’s one way to try and deter it, it is to have the biggest punishment possible – you should be banned from cricket for life, and if everyone knows that then it’s very black-and-white”, he said.
Perera, who has played three Tests and 51 one-dayers, admitted he arrived in England undercooked, having barely trained before a series he did not expect to be involved in.
The hosts, who have already clinched the series 2-0, are now eyeing a clean sweep against a struggling Sri Lankan side.
However, the England captain is almost 6,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 Tests.
England have claimed emphatic victories in the opening two Tests of the three-match series at Headingley and Chester-le-Street and have opted to stick with the line-up that prevailed by nine wickets at the Emirates Riverside last time.
‘Steven is a massive part of this squad in all forms of the game, ‘ said Cook when confirming that Finn will play ahead of Jake Ball.
But Cook insisted that that was not how he played the game.
Ramprakash’s own Test career was characterised by many as displaying a Compton-like intensity – but he describes the quality in different terms.
“A lot of the games have really good attendances, and it’s probably not a series where you need to do it exactly at this time”, he explained.
“He’s served his time and the ICC has got its guidelines to what the punishments are for certain crimes and people have their opinion on that”, Broad said. “With this weather and given the pitch as well – which looks like it will be batting-friendly – I think there’s a chance for us to dominate them”.
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However, the Lord’s Test against the Sri Lankans will offer Root a good memory to take inspiration from, for it was at the same venue and against the same opponents two years ago that he made 200 not out, his highest Test score.
