Cook a man of substance and steel

It was probably fitting thatAlastair Cook did not take the spot light even in the moment that he was unveiled as England's new Test captain. No, instead ofbeing allowed to bask in the success of another stepin a remarkable career, Cook was happy to allow Andrew Strauss to say goodbye in typically decent and self-effacing style and leave questions about Kevin Pietersen as he might balls outside his off stump. Cook is, in many ways, an unremarkable cricketer. Hecan talk without you recalling a word, score centuries without you remembering a stroke and has achieved great feats ofrun-scoring without ever being accepted as a great. In an age of sporting prima-donnas he is refreshingly short on style and reassuringly full of substance.