Alastair Cook

You're either singing on TV or in front of a full cathedral and there's a bit of pressure there. I know it sounds funny but if you get used to doing it, then performing in front of people playing cricket is the same sort of thing.

I think I come back to Essex and fit in pretty well but until you get there you don't know.

The delight you feel in that split second you score your first hundred is so intense it can't be repeated.

Self-belief is certainly an issue you need to make sure you look after when you've lost heavily in two games.

Test cricket gives ultimate satisfaction that I don't think any other type of cricket does due to the nature and longevity of it.

I always found one-day cricket a lot harder. I had to change my game.

When I was made captain, one of my things was that whatever happens in those four years, you don't want to make major changes just before a World Cup. We'd done it before, and it never worked.

Parenthood changes things a lot.

The England captaincy job, after 50-odd games, has found out what kind of leader I am in terms of a person. It's made me feel far more confident in terms of talking to a group in any situation. But it has taken me a long time to feel like I've been doing it naturally.

You have to be very pragmatic, because you walk out to bat at the best time to bowl, with a brand new ball, against the best bowlers, who are fresh. And their job is to get you out, so when you fail there's no point beating yourself up.

You're only England captain for a very short space of time.

I don't think you have to be this macho man all the time, just because you play sport.