Essex CCC Honours Former England Captains with Stand Renaming

Essex CCC Honours Alastair Cook and Graham Gooch with Stand Renaming

Essex County Cricket Club has paid tribute to two of its greatest legends by renaming two stands at The County Ground in Chelmsford. The River End will now be known as the Sir Alastair Cook End, while The Hayes Close End has been renamed the Graham Gooch End.

Both Cook and Gooch are former England captains and have each spent more than 20 years playing for Essex. Gooch, who played for the county from 1974 to 1997, was England’s all-time leading run-scorer in Test cricket for two decades with 8,900 runs. However, in 2015, Cook surpassed him and currently holds the record with 12,472 runs.

John Stephenson, chief executive at Essex Cricket, expressed his pride in honoring the two cricketing icons. He stated, “It’s a real honor to rename the bowling ends at The County Ground after two legends of Essex cricket. We’re a club with a long history, and it’s important that we recognize that. The renaming of our ground ends allows us to pay tribute to two of our finest players of all time.”

Gooch played 391 first-class games for Essex, amassing an impressive 30,701 runs at an average of 51.77. Cook, who retired last October at the age of 38 after playing for Essex from 2003 to 2023, scored 11,337 runs in 158 first-class matches for the county, with an average of 45.16.

The renaming of the stands is a fitting tribute to the immense contributions that Cook and Gooch have made to Essex CCC over the years. Fans and players alike will now have a permanent reminder of the legacy left by these two cricketing greats at The County Ground in Chelmsford.