Cook: 10 000 runs is a massive milestone

England

Alastair Cook is on the brink of going where no other English player has ever gone, to 10 000 Test runs, and he knows it is a massive milestone in a batsman's career.

The England Test captain is just 36 runs shy of the landmark and will be confident of getting it when the first Test of the English summer gets under way on 19 May against Sri Lanka at Headingley.

Only 11 other players in the history of the game have reached the magical figure in Tests while the closest any Englishman has come is Cook's mentor Graham Gooch, who retired from Test cricket at the age of 41 with 8 900 runs.

Cook said: "Milestones are a weird thing because when you're on 4000 runs you're desperate to get 5000 and then you want 6000. But then you realise when you're there it's not quite as important as you thought before.

"But 10 000 is a massive milestone for any batsman because you can't really argue with a bloke who's scored 10 000 runs.

"No matter which way you've gone about it, that's a lot of runs, in a lot of different conditions and being tested for a long period of time. So it'll be a nice milestone when it comes, but I've got to get the 36 first."

Sri Lanka will play England in three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I on a two- moth tour to the UK.

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