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Stephen Cook, born on November 29, 1982, Transvaal, has earned a reputation for wearing down the opposition ranks and notching up big scores.

Cook, who is the son of former South African opening batsman, Jimmy Cook, made his First-Class debut back in 2000-01. However, it was only in 2006-07 that Cook gave a glimpse of his ability to bat for long hours. During that season, Cook aggregated 775 runs and at an impressive average of 55.35 for Gauteng.

Since then though, he has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit. With South Africa struggling to find an opening partner for Dean Elgar, Cook's sterling efforts in domestic cricket bore fruit. He was picked in the final Test of the four-match series against England at Centurion in 2015-16. Cook immediately made an impact by amassing his first Test century. Cook became only the sixth South African to amass a ton on Test debut.

Interestingly, Cook holds the record for the highest score in South Africa's First-Class cricket. He registered that record in 2009 when he scored 390 to break Daryll Cullinan's previous best of 337.