More was to come in their second innings when from 124/3, Cork unleashed a bowling spell in which he took 7/43 – the best figures by an Englishman on Test debut – to help dismiss them for 223.

[18] He was similarly successful in the ODI series with the ball, England's second highest wicket-taker behind Derbyshire teammate Phil DeFreitas, with 10 wickets at 26.40 a piece.

[20] Despite this, Cork and rest of the England team were heavily criticised in the media for what had been an unsuccessful tournament which saw them defeated by eventual winners Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals.

Prior to the tour of New Zealand, Cork suffered personal issues off the pitch with the breakdown of his marriage to his first wife Jane.

[9] Cork described how he was not in the right frame of mind to play international cricket at the time and how his performances were affected by this, further commenting he had no idea when running in to bowl what delivery he would send down to the batsman.

He took 20 wickets at an impressive average of 12.25, in partnership with Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, against a West Indian team which was in decline, but that still had talented players like Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Cork scampered singles and struck boundaries when needed, including a pulled six off the bowling of Franklyn Rose and in conjunction with Darren Gough, led England to a two wicket win in the dusk at Lord's shortly before 7 pm.

[34] Cork featured in the Pakistani tour of England in 2001 and after four years he was recalled to play in the ODI series involving Pakistan and Australia.

[9] He had little success and had seemed to lose his ability to outswing the ball, resorting to bowling the bouncer more often and increased sledging toward opponents.

[7] The following season he became a regular member of the Derbyshire team and made his List A debut against Yorkshire in the 1991 Refuge Assurance League.

The following season Cork cemented his place in the Derbyshire team with increasingly impressive performances in both first-class and List A cricket.

[49] Cork was man-of-the-match in the final of the 1993 Benson & Hedges Cup against Lancashire, scoring an unbeaten 92 and taking the wicket of Mike Watkinson, as Derbyshire won the match by 6 runs.

In the 1998 season, Cork was appointed Derbyshire captain on a full-time basis, replacing Phil DeFreitas who had stood in following the resignation of Dean Jones.

Cork's recent struggles in international cricket, where he had lost his ability to bowl his much famed out-swinger resulted in him playing for Derbyshire for the majority of the 1999 season, where he took 55 wickets at an average of 22.34.

A personal note of success that season came with Derbyshire in a County Championship match against Durham, where he made a double century, scoring an unbeaten 200.

[52] However, Derbyshire at this point in the club's history was beset with internal divisions, stemming from the resignation two years earlier of Dean Jones from the captaincy.

Following a Twenty20 fixture against Leicestershire in the Twenty20 Cup, Cork branded Australian Brad Hodge a cheat after he appeared to catch Steven Selwood after crossing the boundary rope.

[59][60] With Derbyshire rooted to the bottom of the County Championship Division Two table at the end of the season[61] and coupled with the internal issues at Derbyshire, including incoming Director of Cricket David Houghton's refusal to confirm him as captain for 2004,[13] Cork requested to be released from the remainder of his three-year contract extension agreed only at the beginning of the 2003 season.

Opening the bowling with Kyle Hogg, Cork did not take any Sussex wickets, but did run-out Richard Montgomerie and Carl Hopkinson.

[76] On 2 October 2008 he joined Hampshire after signing a two-year deal,[77] making his debut against Worcestershire in the 2009 County Championship at the Rose Bowl.

Cork took figures of 4/41, including the wickets of England wicket-keeper Matt Prior for a second ball duck and Pakistan international Yasir Arafat.

With Dimitri Mascarenhas injured for the large part of the 2010 season, Cork took over the captaincy when Nic Pothas stood down following a run of poor results.

[79] During the 2010 season, Cork led the side to victory in the 2010 Friends Provident t20 finals day at the home of Hampshire cricket, the Rose Bowl.

[83] Provided Cork had a successful 2011 season, then he would be set to reach the all-rounders' double of 1,000 wickets and 10,000 runs in first-class cricket.

[84] Cork hit his 10,000th run in Hampshires' County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley, off the bowling of Ajmal Shahzad.

[85] Under Cork's captaincy, Hampshire started poorly in the County Championship, where they sat second bottom without any wins, while in one-day cricket they have fared little better.

[86] However Hampshire saw a turn around in fortunes, be it in the Friends Life t20, with Cork captaining them to five wins out of five, guiding them to their second successive finals day.

[92] Cork has one son from that marriage, Greg, who made his debut for Derbyshire in 2014, playing four Twenty20 matches after joining the county's Academy.

He criticised Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt following his remarks that match referee Chris Broad had fabricated elements of the attack.

In December 2010, Cork was named as one of the contestants for series 6 of Dancing on Ice with Finnish figure skater Alexandra Schauman.