100 Games for Ashes Captains: Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke

 Australia captain Michael Clarke has lauded England counterpart Alastair Cook ahead of the pair's 100th Test appearance for their respective nations. The first player to manage 100 Tests was fellow Englishman Colin Cowdrey in 1968 and the next Geoff Boycott in 1981. Clarke and Cook will be 57th and 58th on the table.

History says he will have the rare and unfortunate duty of handing back the Ashes, something that only David Gower (1989) and Andrew Flintoff (2007) have been forced to do amongst England captains during the past 30 years.

The 32-year-old Clarke made his debut in India in 2004, late in Australia's prime period in modern cricket, and has scored 7,940 runs at an average of 52.58. This leaves Clarke with the third highest average amongst any of Australia's leading run scorers. Only the incomparable Don Bradman (99.94) and Greg Chappell (53.86) have averaged more. Clarke is also a reasonable Test away from 8000 runs, needing 60 to become the sixth Australian to manage the feat. If he scores his 27th hundred Clarke will go past Mark Waugh to become Australia's fifth highest run scorer. In another nice piece of synergy the last Australian to make 8000 runs, Ricky Ponting, did it in his 100th Test. Like Clarke, Ponting scored a century in his 99th Test and the current skipper may be heartened to hear that his former captain made a hundred in each innings of his 100th Test, 120 and 143 not out against South Africa during 2005-06.

Cook, who will turn 29 later this month, made his debut in India in 2006 and has scored 7,883 runs at an average of 47.20, the kind of return that his deputy believes already puts him on the path to greatness. It is that resilience with is the hallmark of Cook's career. He is a limited player technically yet has scored more centuries that any other Englishman, 25. Should he get to another in Perth, and manage 117 or more, it will give him 8000 Test runs. Only Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, David Gower and Geoff Boycott have achieved the feat before him for England but Kevin Pietersen needs just 12 runs to join the club.

Will it be the Michael Clarke’s first ever Ashes win or Alastair Cook’s first win in the Ashes 2013?