Cricket365

Tres And Cook Bring Out A Book

Saturday 4th October 2008

It may not have escaped your notice that, England openers, past and present, have brought out their autobiographies within the last month.

Cricket365 dropped in on an exclusive conversation between Marcus Trescothick, author of Coming Back To Me (Harper Collins, £18.99) and Alastair Cook, Starting Out: My Story So Far (Hodder, £19.99).

The literary conversation flowed thus...

COOK: Hi there, Banger. I see you've got a book out.

TRESCOTHICK: Beat you to it, Cooky.

COOK: Well, you've got a lot more time on your hands, these days, you ex-international, you!

TRESCOTHICK: Hey! I gave you your big break, remember?

COOK: Yeah, thanks, mate. You'll always be on my Xmas card list for that.

TRESCOTHICK: Well, they don't do any decent sausages on the subcontinent.

COOK: What about Australia?

TRESCOTHICK: I was running away from Paul McKenna. He kept on getting me to repeat stuff, like: "I have scored 14 Test hundreds." Hey, that's double your amount, isn't it?

COOK: All done by the age of 23! A legend before my time!

TRESCOTHICK: Well, I've got my England helmet on the cover of my book. I will never forget those Ashes celebrations. You don't know what that feels like.

COOK: Well, there's a chapter called "Battle For The Ashes" charting one of the closest series in history.

TRESCOTHICK: Battle for the Ashes? You lost 5-0.

COOK: There's another one called "The Jelly-Bean Affair" where I exclusively reveal it wasn't me who dished them out. I like to keep my clean-cut image.

TRESCOTHICK: Riveting. My story is a page-turner and it's not just about cricket. People are interested in me as a person. I have been on the News and I wasn't talking about "the lads" or my "forward press". Yawn...

COOK: Did you know about my former life as a chorister with an angelic voice? It's all there in Chapter One...

TRESCOTHICK: Yeah, but in Chapter Two, I talk about "Bangers and Bats." Love them both.

COOK: Well, my book's in bigger writing and it will appeal to everyone who lives in

Chelmsford.

TRESCOTHICK: Okay, but my one is 100 pages longer. Must be hard for you to count that far at the crease.

COOK: I thought long and hard about the title for my book. It makes it quite clear to the reader that there will definitely more to come. The sequel, In The Middle: Half Way There will be followed by Close of Play: The Final Chapter.

TRESCOTHICK: Coming Back to Me is so much more meaningful as a title.

COOK: What does it mean?

TRESCOTHICK: It means everything comes back to me at the end of the day.

COOK: Phew. That's very philosophical of you, Tres.

TRESCOTHICK: Well, I'm always happiest with my family around me.

COOK: Family? Haven't got time, mate. It's all about the cricket. Hang on, gotta go. Goochie's on the phone with another of his lectures on how to get past 60.