Quotes from Alastair Cook

Even when every Tom, Dick and Harry was calling for my head, I still felt I could get better at being captain.

As cricketers we fail all the time. You score a hundred every now and again but you get out between nought and 20 far more often. If you get 50, you feel bad because you should have got a hundred. Even if you get a hundred, you feel you should have got 150. So you're always failing.

There's nothing worse than going out without contributing.

When I'm away from cricket I switch off totally. Otherwise I would never be able to keep that same hunger.

Playing for England is such a huge honour - it should always remain that.

It hurts like hell when you come into a contest and you end up being second best.

When you step out of the team environment you think, 'Wow, I'm England captain and we've just won the Ashes.'

I'm not some little soft touch. I will never take a backward step when batting, but I want to be respected as a nice guy, too.

It is frustrating when you go all that way, you train, and you just don't turn up. It does happen. If you play 100-odd Test matches, there's going to be little periods when you don't score the runs.

You don't get to the top in professional sport without being hard and tough, but I do that in my way. I don't shout or scream, but I am determined and I will push harder than 99 per cent of cricketers in training.

When you're playing, every ball seems like the biggest event. When you're sitting back, you can see the overall picture better.

Jonathan Agnew is a good person to learn off because he's a brilliant broadcaster and the calmness and clarity with which he does things is a real skill.

I've got that ruthlessness inside me. All good captains have to be able to say things like that - with good man-management skills.

Self-belief is certainly an issue you need to make sure you look after when you've lost heavily in two games.

Yes, there are absolutely moments when you're running out of ideas, and you do genuinely feel sorry for the bowlers when you keep asking them to run in again on a flat wicket, when partnerships get away from you, especially at the tail, which is one of the big differences in the modern game.

I do feel sorry for my younger brother, he used to field a lot.

The musical training taught me to focus my mind, before playing in an orchestra taught me how to truly concentrate. If you miss your moment in an orchestra, there is no forgiving.

I made my debut in 2006 and absolutely, there was the pressure of the cricket, but there was no social media. There was no direct feedback to your phone. If you wanted to, you could avoid it.

You're either singing on TV or in front of a full cathedral and there's a bit of pressure there. I know it sounds funny but if you get used to doing it, then performing in front of people playing cricket is the same sort of thing.

I miss being the focal point of the team - the guy everyone looks to for decisions. And guidance.

When you give up something as big as playing for England there are going to be moments when you miss it.

The India series wasn't the only reason I retired. It was the culmination of 18 months where things had probably changed in my life.

In one sense, what happens for me outside of cricket gives me that break - the farming means I have a really different life outside of cricket; it's not just cricket, cricket, cricket for 12 months of the year.

No disrespect to county cricket but when you're playing for England it is the ultimate, it is what has always driven me to push myself above and beyond.