LONDON: Alastair Cook, the former England cricket captain, has been knighted in the UK New Year Honours List which includes an OBE for England footballer manager Gareth Southgate and MBE for skipper Harry Kane.

Cook is England’s most-capped player and captained the team in an English record 59 Tests and 69 one-day internationals. He is also England’s leading Test run-scorer after having become the youngest player to complete 12,000 Test runs (the sixth overall, and the only Englishman).

He scored a record 33 Test centuries for England and was the first England player to take part in 50 Test victories.

Southgate, whose World Cup run to the semi-finals and ultimate fourth place in Russia, came less than two years after he took over as England manager.

He said: “I hope that everybody that has supported me throughout my career feels pride in the fact that I’ve received this honour because I wouldn’t be in this position without that help and guidance.”

Tottenham’s Kane won the World Cup’s golden boot after scoring six goals at the tournament.

There is a knighthood for Bill Beaumont, former England rugby union captain, a CBE for outgoing Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore, and an OBE for jump jockey Richard Johnson.

Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Harry Gregg, 86, who survived the Munich air disaster in 1958, becomes an OBE for services to football, and there is an MBE for Rangers and Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley.

There are MBEs for former Fulham and West Ham player Leroy Rosenior, now vice-president of Show Racism the Red Card, for services to tackling discrimination in sport, and Women’s Sport Trust co-founder Joanna Bostock for services to gender equality.

The same honour goes to former world darts champion John Lowe, Welsh triathlete Helen Jenkins and three-time Olympic rowing silver medallist Frances Houghton.

England netball star Geva Mentor, who was part of the team’s Commonwealth Games gold medal victory, becomes a CBE.

New dames include former athlete Louise Martin, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, and Glenda Bailey, editor of the US edition of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, for services to journalism and the GREAT Britain campaign.

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