Cook wants his county side Essex to get promotion to Division One and win a short-over trophy in 2013.
England skipper Alastair Cook has set his County Championship side Essex the target of gaining promotion to Division One and winning a one-day or Twenty20 trophy this season.
Cook has rarely played for Essex since making his Test debut in 2006 and now he is captain of the five-day side those county appearances have become more infrequent.
“I’m very lucky to play for England but one of the negatives is you don’t get to play for your county,” the 28-year-old said to the BBC.
“Hopefully we can get back up to the First Division and win a trophy.”
Essex have not won a trophy since 2008 and are currently languishing in the bottom tier of the County Championship setup.
With England not playing again until May, when New Zealand tour the country, Cook is available to feature for the Chelmsford side in the early part of the season.
The opener won’t be available for their initial two first-class fixtures but is hoping to play against Hampshire and Lancashire before the Black Caps arrive,
Cook has fast become a stalwart in the Three Lions Test side; reaching ninth on the all-time run-scoring list for the nation with 7,307, becoming England’s highest century-maker with 23 and achieving the title of being the youngest ever player to surpass 7,000 Test runs.
The Essex man took over as national captain in the summer of 2012 after the retirement of Andrew Strauss and has had a mixed start, with a series win in India followed by a disappointing draw with New Zealand.
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