It was an isolated moment of catharsis, and one that clearly still leaves Sam Cook conflicted as he looks back on his sporting highlight of 2025.
"It felt like relief more than anything," he tells ESPNcricinfo, as he recalls his first - and, so far, only - Test wicket, on debut against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge last May. "I remember saying to the guys in the huddle, 'Thank God for that!'"
It had been a classic of Cook's genre too - the third over of his new-ball spell, around the wicket to the left-handed Ben Curran, straightening off the seam from that habitually attacking full length, and popping off the splice into the hands of Harry Brook at second slip.
It felt in that moment like the first of many - "I'm used to getting more than one wicket generally, without being big-headed," he says - but, long before the end of England's hard-earned but routine innings win, a different narrative was threatening to take shape.
In a regime previously noted for its pursuit of point-of-difference bowlers - most notably, Leicestershire's rookie left-armer Josh Hull - Cook's selection as an old-school English seamer with reams of Championship wickets to his name couldn't help but feel out of kilter. And, by the end of his fruitless second innings, with his pace dipping to the mid-70mphs and his penetration lost in the process, he was in danger of vindicating that apparent sniffiness towards county cricket that had delayed his opportunity in the first place.
"My biggest disappointment in that Test match was probably chasing wickets too much and going away from what I do well, which is just banging an area and holding it, and wearing batters down," Cook says. "I learned the repercussions for maybe going balls-to-the-wall a little bit too early, and trying a bit too hard.
"I was immensely proud, obviously, to finally achieve that goal but, like anything in professional sport, you're never satisfied with one Test. I'm desperate to bang down that door again, because it's only fuelled the fire to go on and play even more for England."
For all Cook's proven merits, that might have felt like a hollow ambition had this winter's Ashes panned out as England had hoped, with their chosen battery of 90mph quicks leaving scorched earth across Australia's stadiums. Instead, in one of the great Test plot-twists of recent times, Australia's 4-1 victory was sealed on tricky seaming surfaces with Alex Carey standing up to the stumps to low-80s metronomes such as Scott Boland and Michael Neser.
Cook won't be drawn by the what-ifs of hindsight, but with James Anderson and Chris Woakes out of the picture, he would have been the obvious alternative if a like-for-like replacement had been considered. And now, with England's chastened leadership vowing to "re-connect" with the county game as part of their post-Ashes review, his extraordinary first-class record - 328 wickets at 20.64 - clearly warrants a second opinion, assuming he opens his campaign with Essex with anything like his usual verve.
It was only last week that Woakes gave Cook his blessing as a potential successor as "an English-type seamer", while England's managing director Rob Key mentioned his name during his extensive media rounds as a player who would come under serious consideration for a Test series against New Zealand in June.
"Hopefully in English conditions, mine is a style that could still do a job," Cook says. "I'd definitely be better prepared for the learnings from that debut. Without being too obvious about it, the role of a bowler is to take as many wickets as you can, for as little runs as possible, and that is what I try to do.
"Every team needs someone that provides control, whether it's flat or nipping around. The beauty of cricket is understanding those moments when you turn it on and really attack, and when you have to hold on a bit more. And that comes from experience, whatever level you're playing at."
Cook's team-mates at Essex say he's come into the season with the bit between his teeth. His England involvement made for a disjointed 2025, with just six Championship appearances at either end of the campaign, while his winter was a notable chance to take stock. He had no overseas franchise involvements before a white-ball Lions tour of the UAE that was curtailed midway due to the outbreak of hostilities in the region, which he describes as "a pretty hairy experience".
And now, there's a calm focus to his preparations, which extends to his assessment of the England regime that he still hopes to rejoin. Despite a steady thrum of disaffection from players who've sampled the Bazball bubble in recent times and subsequently been discarded, Cook has nothing but praise for the set-up. That may be a credit to his diplomacy, but it's perhaps also the truest indication that he knows his own worth as a fast bowler, and believes his next opportunity might not be that far away.
"My experience with England was absolutely brilliant," Cook says. "I loved being around it, and that's not me just saying that. The way the set-up is, it's something I really subscribe to. There's no sort of coach/player divide. Everyone gets on really well, everyone socialises together away from cricket. It allows you to be more intense when you are at the ground, and training and playing.
"I took offence at some of the stuff that's been reported, in that it's too relaxed," he adds. "That's one thing that I fundamentally disagree with. It's not when it comes to cricket. Those top internationals, they've not there by accident, they've got there through doing hard work. The guys hit more balls than anyone I've seen. The bowlers work just as hard as anyone I've seen.
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"There's different ways to build players up, and get them in the best headspace and best physical space to perform. The way that environment allows players to thrive is unbelievable. I think it's very unfair criticism because, for me as a new person coming into the set-up, it made me feel really at home and more comfortable with putting on that England shirt, almost from the first minute of walking in."
With a block of seven Championship rounds leading into the first Test of the summer, Essex's dressing room is the only environment that will matter to Cook in the short term. And that full-bore focus could be just the ticket for both bowler and club, for it bears repetition just how exceptional his county credentials truly are.
In the four completed seasons leading up to his England call-up, Cook took exactly 200 first-class wickets at 16.75, including seven five-wicket hauls and a ten-for against Nottinghamshire in 2024 that scotched any suggestion that his impact would be dented by the ECB's now-discontinued trial with the Kookaburra ball.
At 28, he should by rights be entering his prime. But, given the pedigree of the players with whom his career has overlapped, he is phlegmatic about the long wait for that initial opportunity.
"I think a lot of it depends on timing, doesn't it?" Cook says. "If you look at those four years that you speak about, you've got Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, so I don't think it matters what you're doing. You've got the two best English seamers ever to do it in front of you.
"If they hadn't been there, would it have come earlier? Possibly, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. But whether it's about 'reconnecting' with county cricket, I don't necessarily think that's the case.
"I think ultimately, as cricketers, this is our breeding ground. This is where we learn our game. This is where we can stake our claim. But it's a two-way street, isn't it? Test cricket can only look to county cricket for the next guys in, but is the County Championship best servicing England's needs? My answer is probably no.
"There could be some serious improvements [to the schedule], which the players have spoken about at length, and obviously has been vetoed by cricket, politics and everything else that comes into it. But if you look at Australia, and how streamlined their pyramid is, everything makes sense, whereas ours really doesn't. If you could get that right, hopefully it would be easier for selection in terms of guys that are performing statistically to walk into the team."
Clearly, Cook will be forewarned about the pressures, as and when his chance returns. As was the case with Jacob Bethell, England's spare batter whose own rhythm suffered for a lack of game-time in the 2025 summer, he accepts there was something unavoidably "disjointed" about his season away from the Championship confines.
"At the time, I was just delighted to be around the set-up. But it was obviously frustrating, trying to get into the rhythm of the summer that you'd normally be used to. But I learned so much from those experiences as well, because you can't be in and around the Test environment and playing Championship at the same time, with the nature of the overlap.
"For now, though, I can only control what I can control, and that's putting in performances for Essex. I'd like to think I've never really strayed too far away from what I do well. If I focus on taking wickets for Essex, hopefully that chance comes again, because that's what happened last time."