Alistair Cook’s brilliant catch to save reporter: Too good to be true?

Former England captain Alistair Cook is yet to play his first Test after quitting captaincy. England hasn’t played a single Test match since December 2016 but are now all set to take on South Africa at home in July. Due to the non-existence of international fixtures, Cook was confined to appear for his County side, Essex.

Cook has had an amazing run for Essex this season. In 7 games, he has amassed 667 runs at 66.7 including 3 hundreds. Runs under the belt going into the home series will keep him in good stead. He, along with his opening partner Nick Browne, made history for Essex when they overhauled the highest-ever opening stand of 316 recorded for Essex by Graham Gooch and Paul Prichard in 1994. After the day’s play, a video of Alistair Cook talking to a reporter was shared by the Facebook page of Essex.

Cook’s brilliant save

The essence of the 32-second video was not to hear out Cook’s views but to showcase how the opening batsman saved the reporter from getting his face smashed by a cricket ball. During the interview, a batsman who was practising behind Cook hit a ball which looked like hitting the reporter hard on his face. But Cook, known to have magical hands fielding in the slips, stuck his left hand out and caught the ball off thin air to save the reporter.

I was as astonished as everyone else to see the sheer brilliance of Cook. But I failed to understand why the interview ended abruptly almost looking like it was pre-planned. He walked off with an odd look on his face before giving a cheeky stare at the camera. The reporter, instead of being shell shocked had a smile on his face as if he had completed an improbable assignment. These reasons prompted me to believe that the video was scripted more than a pure brilliant reflex action by Alistair Cook.

? O. M. G.

These reactions from Alastair Cook are incredible! ?

Check this out! ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/XBCkWgub32

— Unibet (@unibet) June 16, 2017

Unibet shares the video on Twitter, causing doubts

Another aspect that went unnoticed was that the video was sponsored by Unibet, who are Essex’s partners. The video was promoted by Unibet on their Twitter handle, which again raises eyebrows. The entire episode could be a promotional event for Unibet, which is a betting portal.

In hindsight, even if it was or wasn’t pre-planned, you have got to give it to Cook for pulling it off. He essentially just stuck his left hand out to catch it whilst the ball was travelling at the rate of knocks.