Quotes from Alastair Cook

Test cricket gives ultimate satisfaction that I don't think any other type of cricket does due to the nature and longevity of it.

Am I happiest on the farm or out in the middle? I am a cricketer, but the farm is a very special place and I absolutely love being in the countryside and getting away from the bubble. I like to think I'm a farmer, but there's so much experience that goes into that.

The family farm plays such a big part in my life and I genuinely love going back there. In some ways I'd like to spend every day there, but there would be a big hole in my life if I didn't stay involved in cricket.

You need to come to terms with the fact that you are not an international cricketer anymore and that's certainly difficult to come to terms with. But then I love going to my farm and spending time with my family. Drop and pick up my kids from school and play cricket as well.

The delight you feel in that split second you score your first hundred is so intense it can't be repeated.

I have loved cricket my whole life, from playing in the garden as a child, and will never underestimate how special it is to pull on an England shirt.

The biggest thing was probably a better understanding of the mental side of cricket and also the technical challenges I have in my game. Those two things happened in a very short space of time which changed me as a player.

The one thing about professional sport is it's all about results, and at the end of the day, if someone is employing you and you're not scoring runs or you're not taking wickets, they ain't going to carry on doing it, and there's no any other way of saying that; that's unfortunately the ruthless business of professional sport.

Sport is an entertainment, in one sense. But it's also a business.

I don't think you have to be this macho man all the time, just because you play sport.

If you have lost matches and not played to potential, criticism will come your way. Critics and media will say what they see and take you on. They will say things which you might not like to hear. But that's professional sport.

You're always under pressure, that's what life is about. That is what playing international cricket or being a professional sportsman is.

When you are so close to something, it's like a bar of soap - if someone says hold on to it, the harder you squeeze, the quicker it pops out of your hand.

You want to score runs at the highest average you can. That's what motivates you to keep driving the standards.

I'm a country boy at heart. I love it when you've got your boots on and you're standing in three inches of cow muck.

I am disappointed to find myself accused in some papers of supplying the offending sweets, particularly as I am a fruit pastille man.

When I first came into the side as captain, I was accused of being quite conservative, quite negative, and just doing what Andrew Strauss did.

I think I come back to Essex and fit in pretty well but until you get there you don't know.

The battle between bat and ball is a one-on-one thing. I love that stuff, but you play it in a team.

A pro is someone who can do great work when he doesn't feel like it.

People like Mo Ali, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, they are looking to take attack to the opposition and that's when they play their best.

I like being outside and I like hard work.

My stubbornness helped me for the first half of my career; I had that real determination to do it my way - I know the best way. That helped me from a 14-year-old to 25 in getting me to where I got to.

Without sounding arrogant, I achieved a lot more than I thought I would do.