Shutting out the noise is the biggest challenge for a cricketer: Stephen Cook

34-year old Stephen Cook helped himself to yet another century against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Test match at Port Elizabeth. However, when speaking about the same, Cook went on to add that the series in Australia and the subsequent century at Hobart was the turning point as far as Cook was concerned.

“Australia was very tough and I spoke about the hardships I had there,” he said on Wednesday (December 28). “Not that it’s easier now – because Test cricket is Test cricket – but I was a bit more relaxed in this Test match. I was coming off a hundred and feeling a bit better about how things are going.”

Cook also went on to add that shutting out the noise and pressure was one of the biggest challenges for any cricketer around the world. “Shutting out the noise is the challenge of a cricketer, whether it’s the noise on the field from the opposition or what’s being said of it,” the 34-year-old opined.

“It takes a bit of a thick skin and I’ve developed that. I’ve been in a lot of different change-rooms and pretty hostile environments. I always say that if you make it out of your own dressing room, you can make it in the middle.

Cook also went on to speak about the game plan as far as the Proteas were concerned. “We had an urgency about us today, especially in the way we ran,” Cook said about his team’s ploy, who were looking to set up a good declaration. “In the first innings, Sri Lanka employed that deep point, deep square leg tactic quite a lot to cut off the boundaries. But Dean and I, and when Hashim came in, we looked to exploit the singles and make sure they couldn’t settle on their lengths. We didn’t hit that many more boundaries today but we rotated the strike and ran a lot harder. That allowed us to stay ahead of the game.”

He also added a quick note on Dean Elgar, his opening partner. “It was very nice to bat with Dean for a period of time,” Cook said about his opening partner. “So far, we’ve dovetailed and one of us has scored runs and one hasn’t but opening the batting has always been about forging a partnership and the only way you get that partnership is by spending time out there.”