England in West Indies: Sir Alastair Cook joins BBC team

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Alastair CookImage source, Reuters
Image caption,

Alastair Cook scored 147 in his final Test innings at The Oval in September

Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook has joined BBC Radio 5 live's team covering England's 2019 tour of the West Indies.

Cook, England's highest Test run-scorer, was knighted in the 2019 New Year's Honours in recognition of his contribution to cricket.

He retired from international cricket in September and is now set to provide analysis for BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website, the Test Match Special podcast and BBC Sport's online magazine show, The Cricket Social.

Cook will join BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew for the second and third Tests in the West Indies.

The first Test starts on 23 January, the second on 31 January and the third on 9 February.

"I'm really looking forward to joining the BBC in the Caribbean and having Jonathan Agnew as my new team-mate," Cook said.

England won their most recent Test series in Sri Lanka, the first time they had won there since 2001.

"This England Test side played some great cricket in Sri Lanka and it will be fascinating to see how they get on in the West Indies," Cook added.

Test Match Special will provide ball-by-ball commentary of all England's home games in 2019, which includes the Ashes and the World Cup.

TMS will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio 4 LW and the BBC Sport website.

The BBC also has exclusive rights to the next three men's and women's Ashes series, both home and away. The 2019 Ashes between England and Australia start in August.

Ben Gallop, head of BBC Radio and Digital Sport, said: "This promises to be a brilliant year of cricket, so it's great for us to be able to welcome England's record Test run-scorer and newest cricketing knight to the BBC team for the Caribbean."