Foxes Flashback - Nick Cook

Nick Cook (Born 17^th June 1956)

Nick Cook’s second spell of bowling in Test cricket reduced New Zealand to 176 for 6 and put England well on the way to winning the Test. Few England bowlers have made such a spectacular start to their test careers taking 8 wickets in his first and 9 in his second test which gained him a ‘man of the match award’.

It’s fair to say that he only played in the match because incumbent left arm slow bowler, Phil Edmonds, ricked his back getting out of his car the day before the test. Nick was at the time playing for Leicestershire at Chelmsford and this ground’s proximity to Lord’s allowed him to make the short journey to make his test debut.

He held onto his place for the tour to New Zealand and Pakistan that winter, taking 11 for 83 in the first test against Pakistan only to be on the losing side. The West Indies were the visitors in 1984 and like the rest of the England bowlers he struggled to make an impression. He returned to tour Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in the winter of 1987/88, and was one of no less than 29 first class-English cricketers who played in the Ashes series of 1989. In all he played 15 Test matches and took 52 wickets. No Leicestershire born Test Cricketer has taken more (in case you are wondering, Geary took 46 in 14 Tests and Stuart Broad was born in Nottingham).