Man Utd, DJing and Fred the tortoise - meet Sam Cook

Sam Cook has a problem.

Thursday morning is likely to be the pinnacle of his career so far. An England Test debut for the Essex seamer, the outstanding bowler in domestic cricket for some time. Plenty would argue it is long overdue.

Ordinarily, Wednesday evening would be the time to relax, to focus energy on Zimbabwe batters and dream of adulation from the Trent Bridge crowd. Trouble is, Cook's attention will be on Bilbao, where one of his other passions will be looking to salvage something from their wretched season.

"I hear it all the time as a Manchester United fan from Essex. Glory hunter this and that," Cook tells BBC Sport. "It stemmed from when I was very young and David Beckham was at the peak of his powers.

"I got into United around 2002, 2003, just as he left to go to Real Madrid. My parents thought I'd pack it in and support someone else, but me and my brother Jack persevered."

Cook is a United season-ticket holder, splitting the driving with Jack on trips to Old Trafford whenever the cricketing schedule allows. On Wednesday, for United's Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur, his company might be fellow England seamer and fan Josh Tongue.

"I'll be more nervous and emotional watching United than I will be with cricket," says Cook. "I'd like to think when it comes to cricket I can keep things pretty level, but football is a different story.

"It plays on different emotions. It probably wouldn't be the best way to relax the night before a game, but I'll still put myself through it."

As a boy, Cook's first love was football, with cricket following. At 27, he is of typical age to have been exposed to and inspired by the 2005 Ashes.

Now he is finally getting the opportunity to transfer his prolific wicket-taking in county cricket to the highest stage.

At the time of his call-up, Cook's 227 County Championship wickets were the most by any seamer in the past five years. Overall, his 321 first-class wickets have come at an average of only 19.85.

In other circumstances international recognition would have come long ago, but in Cook's early years the road was blocked by all-time greats James Anderson and Stuart Broad, while latterly England's selection process has led them to look elsewhere. Favouring bowlers of higher pace, there has only been room in the attack for one bowler like Cook, whose primary skills are accuracy and movement. An injury to Chris Woakes has opened the door.

For Cook, an England cap will be the next stage on a journey that began with bowling at younger brother Jack in the garden. Father Steve "nurdled a few with the bat and bowled some medium-pace" for Malden, Alastair Cook's former club, while Jack was "probably more talented" and is now Essex's team analyst.

From Writtle Cricket Club, then to Chelmsford CC, where Cook is still involved when time permits. He made his first-class debut at Loughborough University, now a rare route into a professional game increasingly populated by beneficiaries of private school scholarships.

Cook read history and international relations at Loughborough and "likes a discussion", according to former Essex bowling coach Mick Lewis. "Stuff going on in Australia, America, France. If there are news headlines around the world he will ask your thoughts on it," says Lewis.

It was also at Loughborough where Cook dabbled in his other love - house music.

"That's my quiet passion on the side, not something that's too public. If you went to Loughborough between the years of 2016 and 2018 you might have come across a bit of it on a public stage," he says.

"I do love my dance music and DJ culture. I've still got my full set-up at home."

These days Cook's audience is limited to his household, including pet tortoise Fred.

"He's going strong at 70-odd years old," says Cook. "He's my pride and joy, out of hibernation and running around the garden.

"Tortoises are very low-maintenance pets, so good for cricketers. A bit of lettuce, a bit of cucumber, a few trots around the garden and he's quite happy. If a cricketer is looking to get a pet, get a tortoise - they are perfectly designed for winters away and summers at home."

Cook's most recent winter was the final step on the road to international cricket. Given he has been overlooked for so long, few would have blamed him had he given up and chased the dollars in short-form leagues.

Instead, he turned down "a few bits of franchise stuff" to play for England Lions in Australia, and was one of the standout performers in an otherwise disappointing tour. While the Lions failed to win any of their three matches, Cook claimed 13 wickets, a handy demonstration of his ability with the Kookaburra ball in an Ashes year.

"I made the right decision to go with the Lions and show what I could do in Australia," he says. "It's strengthened my cause for international cricket."

At a time when England have altered their selection methods, Cook's inclusion shows county performances can still provide a path to the Test team.

He perhaps should have been most aggrieved last summer, when the exceptionally green Josh Hull was given an opportunity after Mark Wood got injured. At the time, England director of cricket Rob Key explained the decision was down to styles of bowling, and Cook would have been in the frame had a replacement for Woakes been needed. Cook, therefore, had to wait a little longer.

"I just wanted to know what they wanted to see me doing," says Cook. "It wasn't a case of kicking up a fuss or moaning, I was just desperate to know how I could improve.

"It was never a case of 'we don't think you're fast enough'. It was just trying to push the echelons of my pace as high as I could, honing skills, and a lot of it was just that the guys in front were better, which is true for bowlers like Jimmy and Broady."

So Cook arrives in Test cricket battle-hardened, comfortable with his game and, in his opinion, "in a better place than if I was picked a year or two ago".

At his best, he will provide England with control and accuracy. Holding length is one of his key skills. In the past five years, more than 77% of his deliveries in the Championship have been on a good length, comfortably the highest percentage of the top 10 seamers.

"It is not what the ball does but where it does it from that counts," says Lewis, the former Australia seamer now on Yorkshire's coaching staff. "He puts the ball in the right areas and asks questions enough times of batsmen.

"Batsmen get out in two ways: poor decision-making or bad shot selection. He puts enough balls in the areas to get one of those two options. He shifts the ball both ways but his ability to hold his length is pretty special."

The last time Zimbabwe played a Test in England, 22 years ago, the series was famous for the debut of Anderson, the patron saint of English-style seamers like Cook.

Anderson marked his bow at Lord's with a five-wicket haul. A choice was put to Cook - to claim a debut five-for of his own, or see Manchester United win the Europa League?

"It's a no-brainer," he says. "I'll take the five-for. If we lose, I'll be telling everyone the Europa League is an irrelevant trophy. Hopefully I can be greedy and can get both."