Thinking Differently Heroes: Alastair Cook

The Ashes triumph still has England buzzing, and whilst the England cricket team played spectacularly it is a young man from Gloucester who has been credited with most of the glory.

It’s hard to believe that a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and the Metro, and a trained saxophonist who has contributed to the score for a children’s animated TV series, is the same man who holds the record as the only Englishman to score seven Test centuries before his 23rd birthday.

During the five tests of the 2010 – 2011 Ashes, 26 year old Alastair Cook set a new world record for the total number of batting hours during a five-test cricket series. His 36-hour cumulative stint at the crease also shattered an English record which also takes into account six-test series. The Ashes series also saw Cook reach 5,000 test runs across his career, as well as become England’s second highest series scorer ever.

Phew.

However, not only is Alastair Cook a fantastic cricketer, but unlike a lot of young men who are thrust into celebrity at a young age, he has chosen not to wholeheartedly embrace the limelight. So whilst England is still celebrating the sensational victory over Australia and the Aussies are licking their wounds, the man credited with the Man of the Series award is thinking about his next challenge: lambing season at his quiet farm in Bedfordshire.

Now that is really thinking differently.