Also, will be my team for the year for both test and ODI format of the game
The best
1. England have beaten Australia in Australia for the first time in 24 odd years, catalysed by form of Andersen, Tremlett, Bresnan, Swann with the ball, and Strauss, Cook, KP, Trott with the bat. Ponting’s end is very near.
2. Amla’s 253* at Nagpur & a defiant 123* at Kolkata in 2nd innings. Amla was God of batting in the year.
3. VVS Laxman. Saved a test, won 3 tests in a span of 6 tests he played.
4. Umar Gul’s destructive spells at Oval and Lords (3rd and 4th ODI) bringing Pakistan back into the series in hair-raising dramatic fashion.
5. Darren Sammy’s innings of brutal power vs SA (2nd ODI, at Antigua). Razzak’s innings of revival vs SA (2nd ODI, at Abu Dhabi). Yusuf Pathan’s maiden century (5th ODi vs NZ). Sachin's double ton in ODI (2nd ODI, IND-SA @ Gwalior)
6. Bresnan’s feary spell at the MCG (4th test, Ashes) removing Watson, Ponting, Hussey. Siddle’s hat-trick in the Ashes opener at ‘Gabba. Bhajji’s 4 wkt haul vs SA in Durban. Steyn removing 5 Indian batsmen in the space of 22 balls for a 7 wicket haul in 1st innings of 1st IND-SA test at Nagpur, after South Africa had posted a mammoth 1st innings total.
7. Onion survives last over again, saves the day again. (3rd test, SA vs Eng, Newlands, Cape Town)
8. Afghanistan qualifies to play ODIs against elite international teams.
9. AB de Villiers had the 7th fastest ODI century (59ball, 3rd ODI vs India @ Ahmedabad)) and fastest SA test century (1st test vs India Centurion)
10. www.twitter.com/theashes
The worst
1. Pakistan’s spot-fixing controversies
2. Lalit Modi / BCCI / IPL .
3. Randiv’s cheap tactics to prevent Sehwag from reaching a century, assisted by Dilshan’s “expert” idea.
4. Too much of advertisement on TV, decreasing the viewer’s interest in the game.
5. Afridi’s ball-biting incidence (2nd ODI vs Aus, Perth)
6. Ian Chappel and Ian Botham fight in the car park, after the two (now commentators for Channel 9, and SKYsports respectively) seemed to have remembered something from 30 years ago.
7. Ricky Ponting’s argument with the umpires. What was worse was the fact that he was docked JUST 40% of his match fee. Had it been someone from the subcontinent or WI/NZ/SA, things would’ve been much severe.
8. IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND, IND vs SL, SL vs IND............................................................................
9. Steyn vs Benn run-in and spit-gate clash in the SA tour of WI
10. Wahab Riaz vs Jonathan Trott fight in the nets before the 4th ODI of the 5-match ODI series in England. The spirit of the series was completely lost.
Test team of the year
Virender Sehwag (IND)
Shane Watson (AUS)
Jonathan Trott (ENG)
Hashim Amla (SA)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
VVS Laxman (IND)
MS Dhoni (IND) † *
Graeme Swann (ENG)
Peter Siddle (AUS)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Jimmy Andersen (ENG)
ODI team of the year
Shane Watson (AUS)
Hashim Amla (SA)
Virat Kohli (IND)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) † *
AB de Villiers (SA)
Darren Sammy (WI)
Shahid Afridi (PAK)
Shakil al Hassan (BANG)
Abdul Razzak (PAK)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Umar Gul (PAK)
Awards
Debutant of the year – Steven Finn (ENG)
Biggest Retirement - Muttiah Muralitharan (SL, 800 test scalps,513 ODI scalps)
Flop of the year - Ricky Ponting (AUS)
Captain of the year - MS Dhoni (IND)
Batsman of the year - Hashim Amla (SA)
Bowler of the year - Graeme Swann (ENG)
ODI of the year - SA vs Pak, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi.
Test of the year - IND vs AUS, 1st test, Mohali.
Best pitch prepared - Kingsmead (Durban), for 2nd test, SA vs IND.
Newest cricketing term: Sprinkler. (pictorial description below)
Wishing you all a Very Happy & prosperous New Year 2011.
TENDULKAR's double hundred n 50 test centuries have not found a place in ur good list. not even a spl mention. surprised!
ReplyDeleteI missed Sachin's double ton b mistake, and didn't care about the 50th ton. I've added the double ton to the list...
ReplyDeleteI must say I need to refresh but a noticeable absentee
ReplyDeleteWhat about the first ever 200 ODIs?
it was an honest mistake. I had it in my shortlist, but forgot to put it up. I've added that now to bullet no.5 under "The best".
ReplyDeleteSorry for that mistake...
lol. no sorries boss. v jus thought there was a BAGGIE reason for not including him.. n even though th 50 th test ton came in a losing cause, it is still 50 tons.. huge achievement!!
ReplyDeletewell, he had just 2 or 3 this year. so, not an achievement for the yr. lifetime achievement maybe, but not in 2010's list.
ReplyDeleteHow about including the gross decline and display of ineptitude by NZ (being mauled by tigers) in the worst list?
ReplyDeleteI had that on my short-list. that, and Pak's abysmal form in tests (especially chasing small totals). but didn't make it to my top 10...
ReplyDeleteAnd also Haider's threat fears... include in worst list...
ReplyDeleteahh yes.
ReplyDeleteWow! You caught up on so many incidents! Amazing! I wasn't even aware of in your worst list. Also you should appreciate the fact that this year it wasn't BAN vs SL; BAN vs SL; BAN vs SL;BAN vs SL;BAN vs SL..... :P
ReplyDeletePS- I feel the test team is more formidable than the one-day team.
thats the beaut of test cricket.
ReplyDeletePurist.For.Life
I wasn't even aware of - point number 6* - in your worst list.
ReplyDeleteGood one... IND vs SL matches sure did irritate to the core... and yeah, a sorrow year for ponting.. 2011 will sure be as good as this one with World cup and new IPL edition ...
ReplyDeletegiven that IPL was on no.2 position on my top-10 worst list, I am looking forward to that sinking ship
ReplyDeleteI am getting old. Forgot a lot of things :|
ReplyDeleteThanks for summarizing it :) ODI XI looks like a Ranji side when compared to the test XI :D
I think harbhajan should find a place in test team instead of siddle as there is aldready jaques kallis who is an allrounder
ReplyDeleteBhajji? NO WAY!!! There is Swann in here, and Dan Vettori in the waiting list. Randiv bowled better than Bhajji in 2010
ReplyDeletewell summed up :) not been able 2 follow cricket tat much in 2010, so tis was almost a recap :) sachin 50th tonne not necessary 2 b in d list but sachin couldve made it 2 d test squad n zak 4 siddle... amla can partner viru instead of watson, kallis 1 down, sachin at 2, trott at 3.
ReplyDeleteThat'll be good.
ReplyDeleteMy team differed because, Zak's fitness kept him out, and Amla is not a test opener... So, couldn't fit him in Watson's place. Watson, has been good, though.