The choirboy with a steely determination.

Byline: MIKE WALTERS @MIKEWALTERSMGM

HE is the former St Paul's Cathedral choirboy who will reign in all arias as a giant of English cricket.

As Alastair Cook signed off with a maximum break in his final Test innings, snooker legends Steve Davis and Ronnie O'Sullivan must have envied his sense of occasion by bowing out with a 147.

Down the years, some of the game's all-time greats - from Don Bradman to Viv Richards and Curtly Ambrose - have taken their passing-out parade at The Oval.

The Don was given a sympathetic hand after Eric Hollies smuggled a googly past his defences for a second-ball duck 70 years ago, leaving Bradman with a Test average of 99.94, arguably the most famous statistic in sport along with Usain Bolt's 9.58sec world record for 100 metres.

And Freddie Flintoff 's final fling, in 2009, was to run out Ricky Ponting with a direct hit here before his knee disintegrated beyond repair.

But none was afforded the prolonged, two-minute ovation which greeted Cook's farewell pageant.

For sustained acclaim, it ranked with Old Trafford's tribute to Alec Stewart's ton against the West Indies 18 years ago, in his 100th Test on the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, Gawd bless 'er.

Cook is only the fifth player in history to book-end his Test career with hundreds in both his first and last appearance.

And he is the only one to make a century on debut and receive proposal of marriage, via a banner in the crowd, which was his enviable fate in Nagpur back in 2006. In all probability, his numbers - 161 Tests, 12,472 runs, 33 centuries - will never be beaten by an Englishman.

There have been more exhilarating openers. Cook was nearer the Geoffrey Boycott school of adhesion than his mentor Graham Gooch's flashing blade.

And there have been better captains, although the man nicknamed 'Chef' found himself between a wok and a hard place when dunces in blazers at Lord's sought his complicity when they turned Kevin Pietersen into a martyr.

But for application in the workplace, class under fire and an astonishing fitness record, Cook's slate has remained virtually spotless.

Only the stoniest heart would have denied him a fairytale sunset.

And from Rolling Stones wrinkly rocker Mick Jagger to woman wrestling with Brexit in Downing Street, the flow of tributes was torrential.

each innings (21) Tendulkar (18) Cook (13) Khan (5) Only a batsman of supreme mental strength could have strode out at start of play, 46 not out, knowing another 54 would restore a cynical nation's belief in happy endings - and make their dreams come true.

And only the very best players can deliver the perfect symmetry of a century in Nagpur, India's city of oranges, in their first Test - and take the final curtain as The Oval's darling clementine.

a Most hundreds in each innings of a Test 1st inns: Ricky Ponting (21) 2nd inns: Sachin Tendulkar (18) 3rd inns: Alastair Cook (13) 4th inns: Younis Khan (5) MOST TONS

CAPTION(S):

Reggie Duff (Aus) 104 v Eng 1902 & 146 v Eng 1905

Bill Ponsford (Aus) 110 v Eng 1924 & 266 v Eng 1934

Greohammasg Chappell (Aus) 108 v Eng 1970 & 182 v Pak

Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) 110 v Eng 1984 & 102 v SA 2000