Cricket365's Player of the Week award has been longing for a repeat winner since its humble inception some six months ago, when Zimbabwe's Hamilton Masakadza was upstaging the South Africans and England's Eoin Morgan still commanded a place in the Test XI.

Many have since pushed for a consecutive accolade, but the likes of Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal, West Indian Kieran Powell and South Africa's Hashim Amla have consistently fallen prey to our selectors' hesitancy to commend a two-time triumph.

That, however, changes this week - thanks to the mercurial, imperious dominance of that man Alastair Cook, who also graced this page late last month.

Cook's November and December statistics read like a veritable ode to sub-continental bliss, with his recent record untouched by arguably more fitting contemporaries and opposition in Kevin Pietersen, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.

The fastest to reach 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and now 7000 Test runs, and officially England's most prolific centurion after a lengthy rally alongside Pietersen and Andrew Strauss, our Player of the Week's limits seem near boundless.

While comparisons the legendary Len Hutton and Garfield Sobers are perhaps premature, there is merit in dear Geoffrey Boycott and batting coach Graham Gooch's suggestions that Cook's best is yet to come.

23 tons (five of them in succession) in 86 matches for a modest 27-year-old from Essex is an impressive feat, indeed - and unusually the captaincy has inspired rather than dogged his primary role with the bat. Andrew Strauss will be compelled to doff his cap to his successor on this front.

Appropriately enough, given India's inability to trump Cook, it took a really peculiar run-out to end his latest 190-run epic at Eden Gardens. And while this award can't negate the 10-run disparity in Kolkata, it certainly brings his fans a great deal of pride and consolation in another outstanding week for their beloved skipper.

Honourable mention: As is becoming tradition in C365 Towers, a second-place prize must be awarded - and this time it goes to Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim. Player of the Series for his audacious captaincy and 200-plus runs in a rare ODI series victory over the West Indies, Rahim's romp would have been all the more solid had he not dropped Man of the Match Marlon Samuels twice in the one-off T20I.