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In all the celebration of Alastair Cook becoming England’s most prolific scorer of centuries, one thing occurs. Despite all the “how far could he go” conjecture, it’s just not that a big deal.

Yes, he’s a very very good batsman. But without wanting to kill the party dead, just look at the overall list. There is only one of the big test playing nations which has a lower all-time century scorer: New Zealand. Need I go on?

OK, put it another way. Cook’s 23 tons puts him equal fourth on the India list, and joint seventh on the all time Australia list for century scorers.

Is the list skewed by more test cricket in recent decades? Not really. Cook would also be 4th on the West Indies list, behind Viv Richards and Gary Sobers, as well as Brian Lara.

If Cook was from Pakistan? Third on the list. South Africa? Third. Sri Lanka? Without wanting to get repetitive – third. So of all the big test nations, bar New Zealand, he wouldn’t even be in second place.

In essence, the England centuries record of 22 was always there for the taking. The fact that it had stood for so long was a strange anomaly, and could easily become a fluid thing for a while with Petersen only one ton behind.

Cook is terrific, on a great run of form, and will be a run machine all-time great. But this isn’t the record to get that excited about. Table below the break…

Player Span Mat Runs Ave 100s
SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-2012 193* 15638 54.67 51
JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2012 158 12980 56.92 44
RT Ponting (Aus) 1995-2012 168 13378 51.85 41
R Dravid (ICC/India) 1996-2012 164 13288 52.31 36
SM Gavaskar (India) 1971-1987 125 10122 51.12 34
BC Lara (ICC/WI) 1990-2006 131 11953 52.88 34
SR Waugh (Aus) 1985-2004 168 10927 51.06 32
DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 1997-2012 135 10640 50.18 31
ML Hayden (Aus) 1994-2009 103 8625 50.73 30
KC Sangakkara (SL) 2000-2012 113 9893 55.89 30
DG Bradman (Aus) 1928-1948 52 6996 99.94 29
S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994-2012 146 10696 51.67 27
AR Border (Aus) 1978-1994 156 11174 50.56 27
GS Sobers (WI) 1954-1974 93 8032 57.78 26
GC Smith (ICC/SA) 2002-2012 105 8569 49.53 26
Inzamam-ul-Haq (ICC/Pak) 1992-2007 120 8830 49.6 25
GS Chappell (Aus) 1970-1984 87 7110 53.86 24
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 1998-2010 90 7530 52.29 24
IVA Richards (WI) 1974-1991 121 8540 50.23 24
AN Cook (Eng) 2006-2012 86* 7102 50.36 23
V Sehwag (ICC/India) 2001-2012 101* 8510 50.35 23
JL Langer (Aus) 1993-2007 105 7696 45.27 23
Javed Miandad (Pak) 1976-1993 124 8832 52.57 23

Source: ESPN Cricinfo