Cook plays his 26th Lord's Test

Sir Alastair Cook’s 26 Test Matches at Lord’s are a record at the Home of Cricket and the second highest total for a player’s appearances on a single ground in all Test cricket.

Only Mahela Jayawardene’s 27 outings at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka rank higher. Those 26 Tests brought him 1,937 runs at an average of 43.04 with four hundreds and 12 fifties. He also captained England in eight of those Tests, winning three, drawing two and losing three.

In 2011, he came close to recording a hundred in each innings, scoring 96 and 106 against Sri Lanka. His highest innings of 162 came against New Zealand in 2015, a match England won by 124 runs. Cook’s other Test century at Lord’s came in his second Test on the Ground, against Pakistan in 2006 when he scored 105 and shared in a fourth wicket partnership of 233 with Paul Collingwood.

Cook’s final Test at Lord’s was a triumph for England, who beat India by an innings and 159 runs to take a 2-0 lead in their five-match series. Cook himself struck four fours from 25 balls before being caught behind off Ishant Sharma for 21. England went on to make 396 for 7 declared in response to India’s 107. They then bowled out India cheaply again for 130 to secure victory before the end of the fourth day, despite the loss of the entire first day’s play to rain.