It's Just A Ride: December 2012

A post of the best in cricket in 2012:-

Team of the Year

In four Test series, three ODI's series and four T20 series they were unbeaten. They topped the rankings in all three formats, and have players in the top two or three of both Test and ODI rankings. 2012 should be remembered as the year South Africa finally delivered on their undoubted talent and went from being one of the best to the best.

Success was built around the form of Amla and Kallis's batting in Tests, and Amla and AB de Villiers in ODI's. Steyn, Philander and Morkel have a perfect mixture of being three outstanding fast bowlers with vastly different skill sets, and they still have Merchant de Lange to bring in should one of the previous three lose form. The batting line-up, now with the addition of Faf du Plessis, looks to have six quality test batters. AB's long term future as the keeper needs to be sorted, but with almost perfect timing 19 year-old Quintin De Kock has popped up. They could be very good for a very long time.

Honourable Mentions - West Indies (please not another false dawn), England Women (won every game bar the one that mattered most), Ireland (deserve their chance at the top table)

Batter of the Year

Tests - 11M, 1,595R @ 106.33
ODI - 15M, 656R @ 46.85

For Michael Clarke, the ODI numbers are very good, and only Kohli, Amla and De Villiers can be said to have had better years in that format. The Test numbers are staggering, not only compared to other players this year, but any player for any year in the last decade. What makes it so special is his progression into a truly heavy run scorer (no Test 200's before this year, four in 2012, one of which was a 300) whilst balancing the captaincy and the state of flux that the Aussie top order finds itself in, he hasn't always had the luxury of good starts to fall back.

He probably would have broken the world record against India, where he declared when he was on 329, to give his bowlers two and a half days to bowl out India. They did it in half that time. But his best innings, the sensational 230 against Australia, where on the first day he simply battered the best bowling attack in the world to all parts of Adelaide, only for his bowlers to be unable to force the win, will live long in the memory

Honourable Mentions - Hashim Amla (run machine), Marlon Samuels (a talent finally, finally delivered), Virat Kohli (white ball king)

Bowler of the Year

Tests - 39W @ 20.56
ODI - 31W @ 19.77
T20 - 25W @ 15.64

Whatever the format, wherever the game, Saeed Ajmal is the premier bowler in Pakistan's armoury. The debate over his action and doosra will continue (In my view if Murali got away with it then why shouldn't he), but that shouldn't detract from the fact that he has reached a level that very few spinners reach. He can bowl with both control and the ability to take wickets, attested by both a better than average strike rate and a fantastic economy rate in the limited overs game.

He blitzed England earlier in the year, and has performed consistently for Pakistan in white ball cricket, which is remarkable given the words "Pakistan", "cricket" and "consistent" and mentioned about as often as the words "Jonathan Trott" and "flair". He's come to international cricket late and will likely never play a match in his home country, so try and forget about the action and watch him bowl.

Honourable Mentions - Rangana Herath (who knew?), Peter Siddle (guts, guts and more guts), Sunil Narine (true test comes in Test matches in 2013)

Innings of the Year

Kevin Pietersen - 149 v South Africa, 2nd Test

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the whispers and the truths of the KP text/twitter/teammate farrago, there are a few things that hold true when he walked out to bat at Headingley in the 2nd test:-

- in his own mind he was unhappy in the dressing room
- South Africa were utterly on top in the series and match
- The South African pace bowling attack was currently the best in the world

The innings that followed showed the very best of Pietersen as both a player and individual (much as behaviour after the test showed the very worst). South Africa are on top, the best fast bowler in the world is somewhere near his best and he is ably supported by a varied attack and the best fielding unit you could want. Pietersen came out, puffed out his shoulders, and single handly grabbed back the momentum for England.

He began by building an innings, brutally dispatching the few bad balls he received. When South Africa switched to short ball tactics, he swatted Morkel into the leg side fence. But the coupe of grace was late in the day, when South Africa took the new ball. Firstly he thumped Philander for four and then strolled down the wicket to push him for one to bring up his hundred. But the best was yet to come as he launched Dale Steyn, the most intimidating bowler in world cricket, straight back over his head into the sightscreen. It was a shot of utter dismissiveness that showed on his day, there is simply no bowler that can stop Pietersen in full cry.

Honourable Mentions - Hashim Amla, 311* v England (the concentration of a monk), Michael Clarke, 230 v South Africa (carnage in Adelaide), Virat Kohli, 183 v Pakistan (330 to win an ODI against your biggest rivals), Marlon Samuels, 78 v Sri Lanka (the best T20 innings ever?)

Bowling Performance of the Year

Peter Siddle - 33-15-65-4 v South Africa, 2nd Test

Peter Siddle is not an outstanding fast bowler. In the grand scheme of things, he is, but when it comes to international level, he does nothing special. He's not particularly quick, he doesn't swing the ball a lot, he doesn't seam the ball a lot and he bowls more bad balls than he should. He's in the Australian team through sheer graft, and in the 2nd test in Adelaide that graft was finally met with the skills mentioned above.

South Africa needed to bat over a day and a half to save the test. The Aussies were already a quick bowler down with James Pattinson injured in the 1st innings, with Siddle having sent down 30 overs already. In the 2nd innings, with Hilfenhaus and Lyon accurate but ineffective, and Pattinson unable to bowl, Siddle tore in time and time again, giving an outstanding performance of sheer will and no lack of quality. He bowled de Villiers with a snorter, and when the game seemed to have slipped away from Australia he picked up Steyn and Kleinveldt, jogging back to his mark between balls to save. He lost two wickets through reviews, and sank to his knees when Morne Morkel confirmed the draw for South Africa. Sometimes the best performances of a career go unrewarded.

Honourable Mentions - Tim Southee, 7-64 v India (another unrewarded effort), Saeed Ajmal, 7-55 v England (so devastating the England team psycologist was summoned to the UAE), Dale Steyn, 5-56 v England (the begining of the end for Strauss's England)