LONDON: England skipper Alastair Cook is in line to break one of the many records held by batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. Cook will have an opportunity to become the youngest cricketer to score 10,000 Test runs when his team takes on Sri Lanka in a three-Test series at home, starting May 19.

Tendulkar breached the 10,000-run mark against Pakistan at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in 2005 when he was 31 years and 10 months old.

Cook, who turned 31 last December, needs 36 more to join the elite 10,000-run club in Tests.

Cook will get the chance to break Tendulkar’s record against Sri Lanka at Leeds, in the first Test in two weeks.

The left-handed opener will also become the first England batsman and the 11th overall to get to the 10,000-run mark. The England skipper has played 126 matches and has piled up 9,964 runs at an average of 46.56.

Graham Gooch and Alex Stewart hold the second and third spot in the list of highest run-scorers in Tests for England.

Cook made his Test debut against India in at Nagpur in 2006. He made a sensational start to his career scoring a century on debut, adding to the 60 he made in the first innings.

The stylish left-handed batsman made heads turn with his ability to amass runs in big matches.

The high-point in Cook’s career came during the 2010-11 Ashes tour when he scored 766 runs in seven innings and guided his team to their first series win in Australia in 24 years.

He helped England conquer the spin den in India in the 2012-13 Test series. Cook’s unit came back from behind to win the series 2-1. The captain himself led from the front and scored 562 runs in four matches which included three centuries.

The England Test captain has signed a new two-year contract at Essex, the county side announced on Thursday.

The 31-year-old left-handed opener rarely plays for the county, based in Chelmsford, east of London, because of his England commitments.

But they are the only county club he has represented in his 13-year career to date and this season saw him make an excellent start to the season with Essex, scoring three hundreds for the club in the Second Division of the County Championship and 523 first-class runs in total thus far in the campaign.

“It’s great to sign with Essex for another couple of years, and I believe there are exciting times ahead for the club under the new head coach,” said Cook.

“I’ve been at Essex for all of my career, since making my debut in 2003, and I hope to continue playing here for as long as possible.”

Essex head coach Chris Silverwood, the former England paceman, added: “To have some of Alastair’s qualities in the squad for the opening matches of the season has been a real boost.

“He was with us throughout pre-season, and it has been great to have him around the club — especially the experience he passes on to younger members of the squad during training on a day-to-day basis.

“We know that his England commitments take up a vast amount of the season, but when available he has shown how he can further strengthen our batting line-up, and it’s great he will be with the club for another two years.”

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016