NEWS
Follow UsAlastair Cook, former England captain and one of the few players in the world to have missed just one Test since debuting in the format till retirement is in awe of Three Lions’ newest Test debutant- Jacob Bethell.
Like Cook, Bethell too has debuted at the age of 21 and the former Essex man seems to think that the Warwickshire lad is made of right stuff for red-ball cricket despite only averaging 25 in First-Class cricket.
But this was before his out-of-the-box Test debut against New Zealand in the first match of the three-game series.
"There's a long way to go, but it's been an encouraging start. He's probably a year or two behind as a player, in terms of knowing his red-ball game.
But Bethell's a seriously talented player, and he's looked at home in international cricket straightaway,” Cook was quoted as saying by ESPN cricinfo.
Cook noticed the change in approach by the 21-year-old left-hander when he had to walk in to bat number three in very contrasting situations in the first and the second innings.
"I was impressed. Particularly the way that he gutted it out in the first innings,” said the man Knighted for his contributions to the game of cricket.
Bethell, who scored a brisk 37-ball fifty not-out in the second innings, showed character in the first, grinding his way to a 34-ball 10, trying to survive the tough phases.
I don't want to get carried away, but he's made of the right stuff,” said the 39-year-old, who finished with 12472 Test runs. At the time of Cook’s retirement, it was the most runs for an Englishman in Tests. The record was eventually broken by Joe Root.
Bethell kept his spot in England XI for the second Test of the series, starting December 6 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. England lead the three-match series 1-0.
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