Geoffrey Boycott has backed Alastair Cook to greatly extend his record total of 23 Test hundreds for England.
Cook, England's Test captain, reached three figures in the third Test against India at Kolkata to move ahead of Boycott, Colin Cowdrey, Wally Hammond and current team-mate Kevin Pietersen to become England's most prolific centurion in Tests.
Former England opener Boycott, commentating for BBC Radio Five Live, hailed a "terrific performance" by Cook but felt the landmark was inevitable.
He said: "I don't think it'll be such a big deal to him, to pass Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, myself and Kevin Pietersen.
"He's going to get a lot more unless he suffers some serious illness or injury.
"He's got a sound technique, he's the captain so he'll automatically get picked - he'll be way up towards 40 by the time he's finished, high 30s maybe.
"If you think he'll be in his best years until he's about 32, that's five years. You play about 14 Tests a year so that's about another 70 Tests, and he'll probably get about 15 Test hundreds in that.
"I think he'll be close to 40 (hundreds) by the time he's in his early 30s, then it depends how long he plays, he might get more than that."
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