Australian great Allan Border praised the "amazing" Alastair Cook as the England batsman equalled his record for 153 consecutive Tests by playing in the series opener against Pakistan at Lord's on Thursday.
This was the 154th Test of opener Cook's career – with only illness after he made a century on debut against India at Nagpur in 2006 interrupting a sequence where he has never been dropped by the selectors.
Border and Cook are both gritty left-handed batsmen, each having scored more than 11,000 Test runs and captained their respective countries to Ashes success.
They've also each won a County Championship title with Essex.
But at 33, Cook is five years younger than when Border played his 153rd Test, a reflection both of England's heavy programme and the increasingly congested nature of modern international cricket.
But despite his 244 not out against Australia in the fourth Test at Melbourne in December, Cook came into the two-match Pakistan series under greater pressure than usual.
The past year has seen Cook score two double centuries but only a further 216 Test runs at an average of 13.5 since last August. Border, however, forecast Cook's Test career could run for a while yet.
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