121 Quotes by Alastair Cook

In international cricket you have to thrive on the big stage, you have to deal with the media and the pressure.

Sport is an entertainment, in one sense. But it's also a business.

The captaincy thing is brilliant, and I love it. But I didn't start off playing cricket to captain England. I wanted to score runs and stuff.

In one sense, what happens for me outside of cricket gives me that break - the farming means I have a really different life outside of cricket; it's not just cricket, cricket, cricket for 12 months of the year.

It's surreal to think that no one has played as many Test matches for England. I suppose it's a credit to my longevity.

You're always under pressure, that's what life is about. That is what playing international cricket or being a professional sportsman is.

The England captaincy job, after 50-odd games, has found out what kind of leader I am in terms of a person. It's made me feel far more confident in terms of talking to a group in any situation. But it has taken me a long time to feel like I've been doing it naturally.

I made my debut in 2006 and absolutely, there was the pressure of the cricket, but there was no social media. There was no direct feedback to your phone. If you wanted to, you could avoid it.

As cricketers we're judged on the average we have from being a 21-year-old who's just come into international cricket to the day you retire.