Stephen Cook (cricketer)

Stephen Craig Cook (born 29 November 1982 in Johannesburg) is a South African first class cricketer, the son of former Test player Jimmy Cook. He is a right-handed opening batsman and very occasional right-arm medium bowler formerly for Gauteng following his debut in 2000, and for Lions since 2009. In 2010 he scored 390 runs in a single innings, surpassing several South African and international first-class cricket records, and was included in the South Africa A squad.[1][2]

Career

Cook was born in November 1982 in Johannesburg, Transvaal, son of former Test cricketer Jimmy Cook, himself an "exceptional opening batsman" with over 20,000 first-class runs.[3]

Record innings

Cook holds the record highest score in South African first-class cricket – 390 from 648 balls on 25 October 2009 against the Warriors – which was also the team's first triple century.[4][5] Cook had previously been a spectator to his father's own 313 and Daryll Cullinan's previous-record 337, and commented later that "When my brother and I used to play cricket in the garden, there was one score neither of us could ever go past and that was dads. Neither of us could ever score more than 313."[6] Cook's score is also the twelfth-highest and fourth-longest in first-class cricket history - taking over 14 hours to complete - and was part of a record-breaking 365-run partnership with Thami Tsolekile, also a record for South African first-class cricket.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Cook smashes South African batting record". CricInfo. ESPN. 25 October 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "Parnell included in South Africa A squad". CricInfo. ESPN. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  3. ↑ Player Profile: Jimmy Cook|work=CricInfo|publisher=ESPN|accessdate=11 July 2011
  4. ↑ "SuperSport Series, Warriors v Lions at East London, Oct 22-25, 2009". CricInfo. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  5. ↑ "Records / Lions / First-class matches / High scores". CricInfo. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  6. ↑ "Cook basks in 'almost perfect' innings". CricInfo. ESPN. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2011.

References