Former England captain and the Three Lion’s greatest Test cricketer Alastair Cook is all set to be granted with knighthood in the new year honors according to a report in The Times. Cook who will turn 34 on Christmas will be recognized for his years of service to England cricket and his record-breaking international cricket career.

Cook called time on his Test career in September earlier this year with the perfect farewell as he signed off with a brilliant hundred against India at the Oval. He started his career in a similar fashion when he filled in for an injury crisis while recording brilliant debut century against India at Nagpur in 2006.

Cook who has scored 33rd hundreds in Test cricket for England is not only the most prolific centurion for the Three Lions but is also their highest run scorer with a record 12,472 runs to his name. He also holds the record for an England-high of 161 Test matches. While Cook might have retired from international cricket he still continues to play for Essex and aims to do it at the least for 3 more years.

If granted knighthood, Cook will become just the 10th cricketer to be knighted and the first to do so while still playing the sport. The last cricketer to be knighted was Sir Ian Botham back in 2007.

The 33-year-old opening batsman captained his country for five years where he led them to Ashes victory twice against Australia. Although Cook has been criticized several times for his leadership, there is no denying that Cook was a great servant of England cricket