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by Paolo Shaoul<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ahead of England\u2019s two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle starting on Monday 26th<\/sup> March, Paolo takes a look at a man that could break English cricket records and re-write the history books in years to come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First, I must come clean. When I sat down to write this piece I had to Google who the current SPOTY (BBC Sports Personality of the Year) was.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now I can assure you that\u2019s not because I was busy watching a Midsomer Murders Xmas special on the night in question. It\u2019s simply because, unlike previous years when the winners\u2019 names simply tripped off the tongue, 2011\u2019s simply refused to register in my brain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mark Cavendish is probably Britain\u2019s most successful ever participant in the world\u2019s 3rd<\/sup> biggest sporting event, the Tour de France. So he has my utmost respect. He is our greatest ever sprint cyclist, although Chris \u201cwhen\u2019s my next TV ad\u201d Hoy looks pretty tasty on two wheels too. I couldn\u2019t honestly tell the difference. It could be like comparing Peter Crouch to David Silva for all I know.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anyway, I digress.\u00a0 Torville & Dean, Ian Botham, Paul Gascoigne, Frank Bruno, David Beckham, Daley Thompson, Steve Davis, Steve Redgrave – SPOTY was a rolecall of household British sporting names.\u00a0\u00a0 But does the average man or woman from Grimsby to York or Preston to Hayward\u2019s Heath have any empathy, passion or quite frankly care about the 2011 winner?\u00a0 This is where I think the true British sporting hero of 2011 was ill thought through.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut the public voted!\u201d I hear you say.\u00a0 Yes they did, or rather a certain section of the public voted.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet if this award had been decided on in the same way as the European, World and British footballers of the year \u2013 i.e. by professional sportsmen and journalists \u2013 I believe we would have had a very different outcome.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now bear in mind cricket is Britain\u2019s second most popular sport after football \u2013 yes and that includes Scotland, Walesand N Ireland. It is after all the England\u00a0AND<\/span> Wales Test cricket team. So winning the Ashes, in Australia for the first time in over 20 years with one of THE greatest ever displays by an English cricketer seems to me a shoe-in for the ultimate British sporting accolade \u2013 surely? In fact it\u2019s (almost) up there with Murray winning Wimbledon or England winning the Euros.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Make no mistake, it might not have been the Australia of Warne, Gilchrist et al \u2013 but this was still the Ashes in Oz \u2013 and Alastair Cook almost single-handedly put them to his square-jawed Essex sword.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then they said he couldn\u2019t play limited overs – another case of \u201ccook-ing\u201d the facts.\u00a0 Not content with two consecutive hundreds in the one day series against Pakistan, Cook captained England to a 4-0 drubbing.\u00a0 And his relentless single-handed assault on English batting continued when the unthinkable happened \u2013 Cook was picked for the Twenty20 squad.\u00a0 The final nail in the \u201che can only play one brand of cricket\u201d debate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If I am guilty of being in love with Alastair Cook then I must apologise \u2013 perhaps my judgement is impaired.\u00a0 But in the words of the Four Tops – \u201cI can\u2019t help myself\u201d. If there is a more charming, well-mannered and humble sportsman on these shores, he must be operating in the English Premier League.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7215\/6867349560_b46c8d465a_n_d.jpg\")
The fact is that in Cook, we are witnessing one of the all-time greats of cricket blossoming before our eyes.\u00a0 At barely 26 years old he is already set to pass the English Test record for centuries held jointly by Hammond, Cowdrey and Lord Boycott.\u00a0 Currently on 19, Cook is just three behind the record of 22. That alone is a phenomenal achievement and given he has around ten years left at the top, it is frightening to think what he can go on to achieve \u2013 and he will no doubt achieve it all as captain of his country.\u00a0 Indeed, while England\u2019s football and rugby teams scratch around for a decent skipper, for the ECCB, it is an almost messianic appointment in waiting.<\/p>\n