Centurion Alastair Cook signs off in style

The England batsman scored 147 in his 291st and last innings for his country

On Monday at The Oval in London, English cricketer Alastair Cook batted in his 291st and final Test innings and signed off in style by making 147 runs, in addition to 71 in the first innings. Getty Images

Cook, is caught out by India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant off the bowling of India's Hanuma Vihari for 147. When he scored his 76th run of the innings, Cook became the fifth highest scoring individual batsman in Test cricket history, eclipsing Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakarra’s 12,400 runs. Cook ended his batting career on 12,472 runs. AP Photo

Cook, who also captained England for a record 59 Tests, became only the second batsmen in history to have made a fifty and a century on both his Test debut (60 and 104 not out, against India in Nagpur in 2006) and in his final match. AFP

He joins a similarly select club of just five who have scored a hundred in their first and final matches: Australians Bill Ponsford, Reggie Duff and Greg Chappell, and Indian great Mohammad Azharuddin make up the quintet. AFP

Cook celebrates reaching his century. His score of 147 is the highest by any batsman in the second innings of his final Test, beating his compatriot R Subba Row’s 137, which was also scored at The Oval against Australia in 1961. AP Photo

His ton was his 15th in a Test second innings, a record he holds on his own after moving past Sangakkara’s 14. AFP

Cook isn’t the only Englishman to enter record territory in this match. After dismissing two Indian batsmen in four balls in his second over, James Anderson drew level with Australian great Glenn McGrath on 563 Test wickets: if he picks up one more wicket on Tuesday he will become the fourth highest Test wicket taker of all time. AFP

Stuart Broad can also advance along the road to cricketing immortality. His dismissal of the Indian captain Virat Kohli for a golden duck means that the Englishman needs just two wickets to supplant Kapil Dev in seventh place on the all time wicket takers’ list with 435 scalps. Getty Images

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Read more:

'Dream come true' for Alastair Cook as last-innings century puts England on cusp of Test win

England in driver's seat as chance for Alastair Cook to end Test career with hundred at The Oval

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