While touring in the West Indies with the ECB National Academy, Cook was called up to the England national team in India as a last-minute replacement for Marcus Trescothick and debuted with a century. Debuting at 21 years of age Cook went on to score 1,000 runs in his maiden year and become the youngest Englishman to reach 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 Test runs, making centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh.[1]
Despite this prodigious flurry of runs, Cook came under criticism throughout 2008 for a lack of centuries; he replied in 2009 with two centuries, as well as a score of 95 against Australia to help seal England's first victory against them at Lord's since 1934. He took seven catches in the series, including the final wicket, to win the 2009 Ashes series. After deputising as Test captain in 2010 and then taking ODI captaincy full-time, Cook went on to play another pivotal role in retaining the 2010-11 Ashes series, breaking records by scoring the second highest number of runs in a Test series by an Englishman, including his maiden first-class double-hundred and two further hundreds, and batting for over 35 hours during the series.
