Sir Alastair Cook: Essex wait for ex-England skipper's decision on possible retirement
- Published
Alastair Cook made six in both innings against Northamptonshire in what may yet be his last knock as a first-class cricketer
Essex will wait for former England Test skipper Alastair Cook to make a decision on his future in first-class cricket following their season-closing defeat by Northamptonshire.
Media speculation in recent weeks has suggested that this will be the 38-year-old's last season.
But Essex head coach Anthony McGrath says Cook's mind is not made up and he may still play on into his 40th year.
"Hopefully we'll see him for a bit longer," McGrath told BBC Radio Essex.
"But, if not, then the service he's given to cricket, not just Essex, has been phenomenal."
Cook, who turns 39 in December, has made 824 County Championship runs this summer at an average of 35.82, hitting the 74th first-class century of his career, as well as six fifties.
It is now five years since Cook retired from international cricket, but McGrath says there is no sign as to whether he now wants to do the same at county level.
"He's been very tight-lipped, because he's wanted it that way," said McGrath. "And particularly because we were going for the title.
"He hasn't officially made his mind up, as far as I'm aware."
Cook made only six in his second innings at Wantage Road, just as he had in the first, as Essex, having missed out on the county title, fell badly away to lose by an innings to bottom club Northamptonshire.
But he was given a rapturous round of applause on his return to the Northampton pavilion.
"If it is his last game, we're going to miss him," said McGrath."I can't speak highly enough of him.
"In case it is, everyone was just giving him a clap.
"He wants to do it his own way. He did that with England and, with the amount of cricket he's played and what he's given to the game, he deserves that respect and I don't think we should push him into it."