Fresh from bowling Essex to victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge with a hat-trick as part of a fourth first-class 10-for, Cook is the latest guest on the Under The Lid - Inside Pro Cricket podcast
Essex's Sam Cook has revealed he keeps a black book containing each of his senior wickets.
Appearing as the special guest on episode two of the Under The Lid - Inside Pro Cricket podcast presented by Jack Brooks and Katherine Sciver-Brunt, the 26-year-old admitted he keeps his own personal record of each individual scalp.
Cook had plenty to add after the opening round County Championship win over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge after taking a fourth career 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket- an outstanding performance which included a hat-trick in the first innings.
He returned in the Notts chase to take 6 for 14 as the hosts were skittled for 80 and slumped to a 254-run defeat.
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It took Cook's record against Peter Moores' side to 18 wickets at 15.88 ahead of the visit to Chelmsford of Kent and one of his favourite opponents.
Jack Leaning has been removed six times in first-class cricket by the Essex seamer - once while playing for Yorkshire in 2017 and on five occasions since joining the Canterbury club at the end of 2019.
"I do have a little black book of all the names in my bag with little dashes which I started doing as a joke when I first started and it has become a bit of a thing in the changing room," Cook responded when asked about his stranglehold on Leaning. "I've managed to keep it going.
Cook bowls against Kent in 2022 - a game in which he removed Leaning for a golden duck (Jacques Feeney/Getty Images)
"It's not exactly a Cricket Archive style, so you have to look through manually who's got the dashes. I do have a little book, so I do keep an eye on it from time to time. I'd like it to be a thing when I finished playing that it's fairly full."
He added: "When I finish playing it will be something nice to look back on - at the minute people think I'm just a bit weird."
The Under The Lid podcast, a collaboration between The Cricketer and the PCA, aims to highlight the realities of being a professional player with weekly episodes featuring personalities from across the circuit.
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