Five best moments from Alastair Cook's captaincy

#2 Cook retains the urn in his first assignment

Cook’s defining moment as captain came during the 2013 Ashes

The 2013 Ashes was Alastair Cook’s first series against Australia as the captain, and he didn’t fail to deliver. The Englishmen registered their third series win against Australia, a feat which took them 22 years to achieve.

The first Test turned out to be a close affair, with the hosts winning by just 14 runs after an inspiring performance from the Australian tail-enders early on. In the second Test, Ian Bell registered his third consecutive century in as many Ashes Tests, and Graeme Swann’s fifer floored Australia to their lowest score at Lord’s in 45 years.

The Australians came hard in Manchester, but all their efforts went in vain, as England drew the third Test, won the next one at Chester-le-Street and played out the final Test with a little bit of assistance from the rain to finish a 3-0 sweep. Skipper Cook notched up three fifties in that series apart from bagging the most catches (7).