The Yorkshire Post says: The run machine. Alastair Cook's place in cricket history
The outgoing opening batsman’s record of 12,472 runs compares more than favourably with the game’s all-time greats and it was entirely fitting that he should mark his final Test innings with a century at The Oval against India.
Seventy years after Australia’s legendary Don Bradman suffered the ignominy of a second ball duck at the very same ground, Cook showed characteristic composure before reaching three figures– his 33rd Test century – courtesy of overthrows. Not only did the ovation illustrate the high esteem in which Cook will always be held, but that there’s still a place, even in the era of high octane Twenty20 cricket, for the less flamboyant run machines.