BBC Sportcricket

But how might Cook or his Stanford Superstars counterpart Chris Gayle spend their winnings should his team come out on top?

Gayle, a man who knows how to enjoy himself, would find himself trousering 72 million Jamaican dollars.

That would be enough to hire Bajan R&B star Rihanna to play at his post-match celebration party, buy 12,222 bottles of Moet et Chandon vintage champagne or pick up 489,780 cans of Red Stripe, depending on whether he can be bothered negotiating a bulk discount or not.

England's players, however, have been warned by Kevin Pietersen not to act like "clowns" should they win.

So a more sensible Cook could use his �550,000 to buy 5,188 Gray-Nicolls cricket bats for disadvantaged children, 220 roll-out artificial pitches or 22,400 sets of stumps and bails.