Published: Dec 29, 2016, 08:05 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 29, 2016, 08:05 PM (IST)
South African opener Stephen Cook has had a good run this year scoring three centuries. Recently in an interview, the cricketer revealed that he is not worried of the fact that he might lose his spot in the side after AB de Villiers makes a comeback in international cricket. Making his debut in 2016, based on his brilliant performance in the First-Class season, Cook hit centuries against Australia, England and Sri Lanka. The 34-year-old cricketer, who made it late into the international circuit, has more than 12,000 runs in First-Class cricket says he has ‘developed a thick skin’.
Talking to ESPNCricinfo, Cook said, “Shutting out the noise is the challenge of a cricketer, whether it’s the noise on the field from the opposition or what’s being said off it. It takes a bit of a thick skin and I’ve developed that. I’ve been in a lot of different change-rooms and pretty hostile environments. I always say that if you make it out of your own dressing room, you can make it in the middle.” Cook also acknowledged his father, Jimmy Cook, for his advices who is a former cricketer.
LIVE Cricket Scorecard, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test at Port Elizabeth
“Australia was very tough and I spoke about the hardships I had there. Not that it’s easier now – because Test cricket is Test cricket – but I was a bit more relaxed in this Test match. I was coming off a hundred and feeling a bit better about how things are going,” he said.
“We had an urgency about us today, especially in the way we ran. In the first innings Sri Lanka employed that deep point, deep-square leg tactic quite a lot to cut off the boundaries. But Dean and I, and when Hashim came in, we looked to exploit the singles and make sure they couldn’t settle on their lengths. We didn’t hit that many more boundaries today but we rotated the strike and ran a lot harder. That allowed us to stay ahead of the game,” the cricketer said about South Africa’s strategy.
Cook, along with Dean Elgar, put up two 100-run partnerships in two innings and thus became the tenth pair in history to do so. Talking about his partnership with Elgar he said, “It was very nice to bat with Dean for a period of time. So far, we’ve dovetailed and one of us has scored runs and one hasn’t but opening the batting has always been about forging a partnership and the only way you get that partnership is by spending time out there.”
South Africa are comfortably placed in the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka at Port Elizabeth. They are 7 wickets away from going up 1-0 in the series.
