Quotes by Alastair Cook

Yes, there are absolutely moments when you're running out of ideas, and you do genuinely feel sorry for the bowlers when you keep asking them to run in again on a flat wicket, when partnerships get away from you, especially at the tail, which is one of the big differences in the modern game.

The atmosphere and the first days of Test matches against Australia are incredible.

I'm not some little soft touch. I will never take a backward step when batting, but I want to be respected as a nice guy, too.

That is one of the great things about Test cricket, the ball. Sometimes it swings conventionally, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it reverses.

You have to be very pragmatic, because you walk out to bat at the best time to bowl, with a brand new ball, against the best bowlers, who are fresh. And their job is to get you out, so when you fail there's no point beating yourself up.

The most important opinions to me are those that belong to the guys in the changing room.

From a purely selfish, batting point of view, I couldn't bat any better than the 2010-11 Ashes and then in India in 2012. That was as good as I could play.

If I was a second-team player, I probably would have gone to uni.

I love the individual sport stuff but the experiences I've had with some great people over 12 or 15 years are what makes is special. That individual thing: me versus the bowler is great but you get that team feeling as well and that's why it suits me so well.

When I was made captain, one of my things was that whatever happens in those four years, you don't want to make major changes just before a World Cup. We'd done it before, and it never worked.