Alastair Cook targets 2019 Ashes but admits he could still quit at any point

Down and out: Cook was dimissed by Josh Hazlewood for 39 in the Fifth Test at Sydney
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Tom Collomosse4 January 2018

Alastair Cook intends to continue with England into the 2019 Ashes but has said he might change his mind at any moment — just as he did when he was captain.

Cook is playing his 152nd Test here and has been cagey about his long-term future throughout the series, following a 12-year England career in which he has become one of the leading ever run-scorers.

Cook carried his bat for a record 244 in the drawn Test at Melbourne last week, which was not enough to save the Ashes but marked a spectacular return to form after he scored only 83 runs in his first six innings on tour.

Asked whether this Test would be his last against Australia, Cook said: “I don’t think so. The problem of this question is that I just do not know. It does take a lot of effort to perform playing for England.

It’s a huge amount of sacrifice and one day I might just wake up and say ‘Do you know what, I’m done with it?’ That’s kind of how I’ve lived my life.

“It happened with the captaincy — I woke up one morning in India right near the end (of England’s 2016-17 tour there) and knew I wouldn’t captain again, however tough a decision it was. I imagine it will be the same here.

“But the way I got through the first three games here, and the way I stayed strong, shows I’ve definitely got quite a lot of cricket left in me and that I want to carry on.

“It’s been a long tour. [We are] ready to go home but there is still another hard game of cricket to be played.”

Cook has never been dropped by England and whenever he has had a poor spell, he has usually responded with a big score precisely when he has needed to.

In 2010, Cook was probably one Test away from losing his place, and duly made a century against Pakistan at The Oval. That winter he managed to finish the 2010-11 Ashes campaign with 766 runs as England won the series 3-1 in Australia.

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In 2017, it was feast or famine for Cook. He scored two double centuries, against West Indies at Edgbaston in August and at the MCG last week, but passed 50 in only two of his other 19 innings. He started 2018 with 39, out lbw on review to Josh Hazlewood.

Cook credits his ability to cope with the strain of international sport to his talent for music as a child. He told BT Sport: “If you play an instrument or perform in a choir from an early age, you can transfer the discipline you need to something else. You learn to handle the pressure of not being able to make a mistake.

“When you are singing on television or in front of a full cathedral, there is a bit of pressure there, but you get used to performing in front of people and it is the same thing with cricket. I’m quite good at getting all the external stuff out of my mind.

“For most of my career I have been quite consistent. In the last couple of years I’ve not been as consistent but when got I’ve got in I’ve gone quite big.”

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