Headingley: Alastair Cook on Wednesday had recognised that becoming the first Englishman to reach 10,000 test runs would be a "big milestone."
He said he was eager to get to that mark as soon as possible so he can focus fully on the series against Sri Lanka.
"It would mean a lot and hopefully I can get there sooner rather than later so we can talk about something else," the England captain said Wednesday on the eve of the first Test at Headingley.
Cook, who has scored 9,964 runs in 126 Tests, needed another 36 runs to reach the landmark in his opening innings of the three-Test series.
He would be only the 12th player to make 10,000 test runs, joining the likes of Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs in 125 tests), Steve Waugh (10,927 in 168), Brian Lara (11,953 in 131), Jacques Kallis (13,289 in 166) and second-placed Ricky Ponting (13,378 in 168). Indian great Sachin Tendulkar tops the list with 15,921 test runs in 200 Tests.
Cook - who was set to become the youngest to touch the 10,000 run-mark beating Tendulkar - was dismissed on 16 in the first Test against Sri Lanka here on Thursday. Dasun Shanaka broke his concentration and stole an edge, Dinesh Chandimal made no mistake behind the stumps. He batted for 91 minutes.
When Tendulkar scored 10,000 - he was 31 years, 10 months old whereas Cook turned 31 six months back, on December 25.
Nonetheless, the record remained intact.
"It's a big milestone in terms of the people who have done it previously so it would be great to try and score these 36 runs," Cook said. "I've just got to put that to bed ... and try and do what I've done in the previous 10 years, which is just try and concentrate on that ball coming down and nothing else," Cook said.
The series against Sri Lanka is a chance for England to further measure their progress after a significant series win in South Africa at the beginning of the year.
With England's bowling bolstered with Finn's return, Sri Lanka's batting is under pressure.
Sri Lanka won the last time it was in England, but the tourists are now without batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and fellow batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who retired with more than 24,000 tests runs between them, and were called "irreplaceable" by Cook on Wednesday.
Sangakkara, now playing in English county cricket, said Sri Lanka's team was over the loss of the pair, but other batsmen need to step up.
"I'm not writing them off at all, but the real test will be for our batting," Sangakkara said. "If they are able to get 350 plus runs on the board, it always gives your bowlers a chance. Our side is weighted more towards our bowling."
