It is not quite a year since Sam Cook won his lone Test cap, against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge. But as well as being a little older, he is also wiser. Having tried too hard back then, he is more relaxed now. And he wants his England place back.
Cook has begun the new season in good nick for Essex, taking 14 wickets at under 19 runs apiece – second only in County Championship Division One to Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott – and in the mood to convince the selectors he is the man to take the new ball against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 4.
His spirits have been boosted in part by the upturn in fortunes of his beloved Manchester United: he says he’d keep Michael Carrick as manager. But it’s also clear he has learned from his Test appearance, when match figures of one for 119 felt worryingly peripheral to England’s innings win.
Worse, there were murmurs about his pace, with Cook registering just 75mph at the start of Zimbabwe’s second innings. In an England setup obsessed with speed ahead of last winter’s Ashes, it wasn’t immediately obvious whether that translated into an international future.
Reassuringly, Cook says England have told him to ‘be the best version of myself’, and that means challenging the outside edge and hitting the top of off – a modus operandi that has brought him an impressive 342 wickets at 20 each in a first-class career stretching back a decade.
And it was his failure to stick to that method, he says, that meant his Test debut didn’t quite go to plan.
Sam Cook struggled on his long-awaited England Test debut last summer against Zimbabwe
Cook celebrates his lone Test victim, Zimbabwe’s Ben Curran
‘I think it was just chasing wickets too much,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘I was probably just over-striding in my run-up slightly, because you’re trying to attack the crease, bowl a little bit faster, or whatever it was, and just a little bit tense, whereas normally I’d relax into a spell. I maybe went away from what I do well: concentrating on hitting the top of off relentlessly and moving the ball both ways.
‘The one thing I’m at peace with is I left everything out there, to the extent I probably tried too hard. But I’ve learned from that and, if I got the opportunity again, I know I’d approach it slightly differently. I’m proud I played, and I loved every minute of it, but I’m also motivated to try and get more games in an England shirt.’
What about the drop-off in speed? ‘Whether it was just the adrenaline or wanting to do well, you just pushed yourself a bit too hard, too early, and I felt like that drop-off came much quicker than the normal.
‘But I’ve spoken to other guys a lot about this, including Pottsy (Matthew Potts). They’ve experienced the same thing on Test debut, when you feel like your legs go to jelly.
‘And it’s something I’ve focused on this winter – trying to make sure I’m as fit as I possibly can be, so if that opportunity arises again, I can hold my pace for a bit longer.’
The Test retirements in successive summers of Jimmy Anderson and Chris Woakes have left a vacancy for an opening bowler whose primary asset is not pace, and Cook sits in the same bracket as Potts, Ollie Robinson of Sussex and Surrey’s Matthew Fisher.
‘I want to stake as strong a claim as I can to get back in that Test squad,’ he says. ‘In Test match cricket in England, there is always room for someone who is relatively consistent, swings the ball and has good skills. In terms of the make-up of the squad, there is an opening. I need to go away and get better and make sure I’m the guy to put my name in the ring.’
At 28, Cook is approaching his peak as a seamer. He feels fitter than ever, and believes he is ‘as rounded a bowler as I’ve been’. Coming from some cricketers, this might sound like bluster.
Cook (centre) is reassured by the encouragement he received from the England setup, and is ready to seize his chance again this summer
Cook is back doing what he does best for Essex this summer, snapping up 14 wickets so far in the County Championship
‘I don’t want to become too focused on playing Test cricket again, but I’m fully motivated to put my case forward as well’
But there is an endearing modesty to Cook, a willingness to look his own strengths and weaknesses squarely in the face. And it obliges you to believe him.
‘I’ve always been at peace with the selection process,’ he says, reflecting on the fact that he has featured in none of 10 Tests England have played since his debut.
‘I didn’t do enough to push my case on to be involved against India last summer or in the Ashes. I don’t want to become too focused on playing Test cricket again, but I’m fully motivated to put my case forward as well.’
When Essex take on Surrey at The Oval tomorrow in the most eye-catching fixture of the latest round of county matches, there will be more than championship points at stake.
