Anderson opens up about the rocky start to his friendship with Cook

Alastair Cook's stubbornness to score runs saw him become a modern English great, one who had the temperament to spend long vigils at the crease, sometimes even for over 10 hours at a stretch.

The same trait also led to a few fallouts with his teammate of more than a decade, James Anderson.

On the occasion of Cook's retirement from international cricket, Anderson, in a column for The Sun, has revealed how their friendship wasn't all rosy, and there were days when the two didn't even speak to each other.

"We’re big mates, but we’ve had fallouts because we’re both stubborn. We’ve gone days without speaking after we’ve disagreed about something, not necessarily anything to do with cricket, either".

"It might be over something as trivial as our darts matches on tour. I might think he’s been lucky and storm off!"

It (the fallouts) might be over something as trivial as our darts matches on tour

He also reminisced about an incident, just before Cook's debut, when the two became friends, albeit in a not-so-friendly way.

"I first played against Chef in 2005 shortly after he scored a double-century for Essex against Australia. It’s fair to say I gave him a few verbals".

"The following winter we flew from England A tour in West Indies to the full England tour in India," he recalled.

"It was a long flight and we sat across the aisle. Cooky’s icebreaker was something along the lines of: “The last time you spoke to me, you called me a ****.” We’ve been mates ever since!"

"He is an incredible example to everyone and I include myself in that"

Anderson did not stop short of giving Cook a glowing tribute, stating how 'Chef' was 'right up there with the great England cricketers".

"He is an incredible example to everyone and I include myself in that. I don’t think I’d have achieved what I have without Cooky, not just as a colleague and captain but as a friend and someone I look up to".

"I’ve always tried to follow his example," he added.