Top 10 Test match run-scorers of the decade

#1 Alastair Cook (England)- 8,818 runs

Cook's career ended with a superb century against India at the Oval

The most successful Test match batsman of the decade, and by quite some decade, is England’s Alastair Cook, who will go down as not only one of the greatest English batsmen of all-time, but as perhaps one of the finest openers to have played the game. Only four players have scored more runs in the history of Test match cricket than the 35-year-old, and none of them have opened the batting for sustained periods of time.

Cook’s finest period came at the 2010/11 Ashes series in Australia, as England won the urn down under for the first time since 1987. He scored 766 runs over the five Test matches, including three centuries. He finished his career with a magnificent 147 against India at the Oval, 12 years after he made a century on debut against the same opponents in Nagpur. There may have been some times where he went through a tough run of form, but he is certainly someone England would love to have back in their side.