I had a confession to make. Sam Cook – England, Essex and ex-Loughborough cricketer, and well-known Man United fan – had just joined the call.
I held up my Man City shirt.
“Oh, God,” groaned Cook. “I’m gonna have to log off now.”
“It was nice talking to you!”
A decade on from joining Loughborough, Cook has had an exceptional career in county cricket. 328 first-class wickets at a remarkable average of 20.64 led to an England Test debut against Zimbabwe in May.
Does he remember the first of those wickets? “Yep – it was Rory Burns, caught Charlie Thurston, I believe. You never forget your first one. I actually saw Charlie last week.”
Looking through the scorecard from his debut for Loughborough MCCU – against Surrey, back in 2016 – Cook is the last one still playing first-class cricket in England. “I think from my second-year team there’s still a few of us playing. We had quite a few of us go on to have very good professional careers, so you’re running into them, playing against each other.”
“[Gloucestershire wicketkeeper] James Bracey, one of my close mates, got married last week so there was quite a few of the Loughborough contingent there. It was really good to see everyone.”
“The majority of us keep in contact pretty regularly, and it’s always nice to run into a familiar face whether it’s in cricket or outside of it.”
An Essex debut came in 2017, the summer after Cook’s second year. “I was in and around the first team throughout that summer, so there was a little bit of juggling in that term. But then once we broke up, I ended up making my debut for Essex and playing the back-end of the season.”
In four matches that year, Cook took 18 wickets at an average of 15.88 as Essex stormed their way to the County Championship title.
Clearly, then, he was well prepared for the step into professional cricket. Loughborough can take credit for that. “The facilities are second-to-none, not just with the state-of-the-art cricket centre – which was amazing to have on demand – and the gym facilities. But for me, it’s the culture of Loughborough.”
“It’s obviously extremely unique to Loughborough to have such a melting pot of athletes from different sports, different areas of the globe, different walks of life, in a university environment – it’s really inspiring and drives you on.”
“And then doubled with the fact we had a fantastic cricket team, headed up by Russell Cobb who’s still involved now. You had sixteen guys in the same boat, trying to make it as professional cricketers – and still trying to juggle a bit of studying at the same time.”
“So it was an amazing experience, probably the greatest experience I’ve had in my life, and something that I think has been the building blocks for the career that I’ve gone on to have.”
The Performance Squad environment proved to be a good taster for life in the Essex first team. “[Loughborough is] very similar – if not better – in terms of the amount of time that you’re in training, and access to facilities.”
“You probably spend more time together as Loughborough teammates because you’re living with each other and socialising a lot. And that is still similar in some teams, but not all, that I’ve played in.”
“It’s probably more condensed… it’s all on campus and it’s all one squad, [so] you never really get away from each other – which brings you closer as teammates. If you have a really motivated group, it spurs you on to get better.”
So, back to 2025. Years of hard work and success were rewarded with a long-awaited England call-up. Where was Cook when a lifelong dream was realised? “We were on a team bus on the way down to play Somerset, and the phone went with a number that I didn’t know, and it was Baz [England head coach Brendon McCullum].”
“Signal wasn’t great, being somewhere on the M4, so it was a bit crackly – but I got the gist of what he was trying to say.”
In preparation for his debut, Cook travelled with the England squad back to Loughborough. “It was great to come back. I’ve been back a few times over the years, with England Lions and other training camps.”
“I think when you haven’t trained outdoors at Loughborough in a long time, it reaffirms how good the facilities were. Everyone spoke about how good the pitches were [for that camp]. I always remembered the pitches at Loughborough being fantastic [and] it’s testament [to the groundstaff] that they’ve continued to maintain the quality of facilities.”
“All of the team were extremely grateful for that, and loved training here, and it was a great way to set the Test team up for the summer.”
From there, to Nottingham, where Cook made his debut and took a wicket as England swept Zimbabwe away.
“To get the nod once we met up at Trent Bridge was phenomenal. And it’s sort of surreal, because you work for your whole career trying to build up to that moment.”
“I’d have liked to get a few more wickets, but it was a pretty flat, slow pitch which made it hard work. But on another day, [I] could have got 3 or 4 wickets in [my] first spell, and then you never look back.”
“It’s natural as a professional – you always want more – but I’m just incredibly lucky and grateful to have had the opportunity to play for my country, and get the cap. It was everything you dream of.”
