Across The Pond: Alastair Cook, King Of Cricket

I am not a huge cricket fan, yet the hype of the past few weeks of The Ashes has led to a renewed interest in this typically British sport. It’s very addictive once you get into it. Of course it’s even more fascinating when you have a pick-and-mix selection of veritable eye candy. I am talking in particular of the gorgeous Alastair Cook, an English International cricket player whose profile has exploded since his team victoriously trounced the sporting Aussies. Cheered on by the ever loyal Barmy Army, the UK’s über cool organization run by the fans for fans, Golden Boy (as Cook is affectionately known) helped his English team secure the electrifying, seminal win.

Talent and (copious amounts, might I add) of beauty make the captivating Cook all the more watchable. Model features (strong jaw-line, chocolate hair and the perfect honed physique) have guaranteed a solid fan-base for this lean, mean, century busting machine. Born in sleepy Gloucester on Christmas Day in 1984, Cook had a natural love for cricket since a young age. Starting off as an Essex County cricket player and steadily working his way up, he was drafted in at the last minute for the England XI in 2006. The then 21 year old made an impressive debut and went on to smash a plethora of records (he is the only Englishman to score seven test centuries before his 23rd birthday). Now, after the First Series win in nearly quarter of a century, Cook is going to be in big demand.

Not content with conquering the cricket arena, his talents off the cricket ground are widely documented too. He can play the saxophone (which features on a CBBC programme), is a columnist for The Metro and Daily Telegraph and is also a keen supporter of good causes. Shedding his inhibitions and clothes in 2008 for the Everyman Campaign (which raises awareness of testicular cancer), the Cosmopolitan’s centre-fold spread ensured through the roof sales of the much coveted publication. Let us hope he takes on more projects like this – it’s all for a good cause and it would be an absolute pleasure to see more of him…