The Promise of Endless Summer features obituaries of some of the game's greats, like Don Bradman

The book takes a selection of over 80 obituaries from the newspaper, each chose because of the colourfulness of the writing and the character beyond. Some giants of the game such as Sir Don Bradman, Harold Larwood and Malcolm Marshall sit alongside those who brought their inimitable style and character to the game we all love such as David Bairstow, Norman Mitchell-Innes and Charles Palmer.

The writing featured comes from such luminaries of cricket as E.W Swanton, Michael Parkinson and Scyld Berry, who has the distinction of having his tribute to E.W Swanton featured.

It’s a lovely, staccato book that brings to life an array of cricketers that gave the sport the deep cultural history that it carries today. The book is perhaps best summed up by a quote that Smith uses in his introduction, from Garrison Keillor: “They say such nice things about people at their funeral that it makes me sad that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.”

We’ve got three copies of this charming book to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one, just answer the following question:

Which county won the 2012 County Championship?

Include your answer in the subject line of an e-mail to competitions@thecricketblog.co.uk and please include your full name and preferred postal address in the event that you are selected.

Please note that we are only able to distribute copies to UK addresses. The competition will close on Midday, Friday May 31. Winners will be notified shortly after.

Good luck!

You can learn to play like your heros through your phone

Those who have had coaching most likely received it at school. The problem with this, certainly in England, is that not many schools offer cricket coaching. It is usually offered only at private schools and most people don’t get the opportunity to learn the game at a young age.

I know myself, from starting to play cricket in adulthood, that correct technique isn’t something that I possess! It’s not easy to find, either. You can try to emulate what you see on TV, but unless you have the time to practice for a few hours each day, this doesn’t really help.

I recently came across a mobile app that aims to help people with their cricket. The Cricket Coach App, available on your smartphone, aims to tackle the coaching of the individual areas of batting, bowling and fielding across three apps.

I downloaded the batting and bowling apps (my fielding’s okay, I think…!) to see what I can pick up from them. With nets having commenced a few weeks back, I have found the in depth breakdowns of each discipline to be very useful.

The one area that I have really improved upon from last year is the bowling of wrist spin. I’m not really a bowler, but the videos, talk throughs and analysis of this trickiest of arts has been hugely beneficial.

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t turned into Shane Warne overnight (more Anil Kumble if a comparison must be drawn) but I have been pitching the ball with increased accuracy and bowling a better length than before.

The app also teaches you about seam, off spin and orthodox left arm bowling. In the same vein, the batting app teaches you about front foot and back foot play; defensive, attacking, leg side and offside play. It even goes as deep as your running between the wickets and games you can play in the nets to improve your accuracy and shot selection.

My batting technique is entirely self taught and predominantly back foot devoid of foot movement. My ineptitude is more dyed in the wool than with my bowling, but the app has really helped me.

There are videos from all angles of a delivery/shot and diagrams to help further explain the techniques involved. You can record your own action and compare it against the videos in the app and it also lists all of the common faults that hold most of us back.

I would highly recommend this to any village or club cricketers, or at least anyone who hasn’t got access to coaching. It’s an incredibly affordable way of accessing thorough information and is a great refresher as to correct methodology.

By Miles Reucroft

you can view the app for Android, iPhone and Blackberry

Australian skipper Michael Clarke enjoyed a stunning 2012

The cricket was often overshadowed last year as the world’s media focussed its attention on events in London during the Olympics. I say the world’s media, residing in England as I do, it certainly felt as if the entire world was transfixed.

There was action and surprises from the off, though, on our hallowed oval fields. The world’s number one ranked side, England, travelled to the UAE to face Pakistan and was duly humbled 3-0. South Africa went on to assume the top ranking by inflicting further suffering on England in what proved to be a very mixed year for the Three Lions.

The Proteas have since strengthened their grip on the top spot, but Australia proved their credentials throughout 2012. Indeed no side won more Tests than the Aussies with seven. South Africa remained unbeaten in 2012, the only side to achieve that feat. Victory in Australia rounded off a most memorable year for Graeme Smith and co.

I fully expect to see South Africa retain top ranking in 2013. In putting together the team below, I tried to conceive a World XI that could go to South Africa and win. I couldn’t. They have strength all over the pitch and nothing screams this fact louder than the presence of AB de Villiers batting at seven.

It was very straightforward to select South Africa as our Team of the Year 2012. Runs and wickets flowed freely and series wins duly arrived in England and Australia.

Another simple selection was that of Michael Clarke as Player of the Year 2012. Four double centuries in one year. Four. It is a record that will take some beating. Clarke also scored more runs than any other with 1595. He’s also building a very strong Australian team around his own talents and the future looks very bright for Australia where it looked bleak only a couple of years ago.

With Clarke leading from the front, prepared to gamble in order to win, Australia look best placed alongside England to tussle with South Africa for top spot. With back-to-back Ashes series this year, it’s going to be a good one!

Performance of the Year 2012 was a little harder to select. Mahela Jayawardene played out a match winning 180 in Galle to defeat England. The next best score was 27 in Sri Lanka’s first innings 318.

Tino Best delighted everyone with a rampant 95 at Edgbaston. It’s the highest score in Test cricket’s history by a number 11.

Hashim Amla’s 311* at The Oval was also right out of the top order. It asserted South Africa’s dominance over England and was the first step towards a series win.

It was in that series, however, that Kevin Pietersen played one of the most extraordinary innings ever seen at Headingley. He crashed, banged and walloped Steyn, Morkel and Philander all around Leeds with a swashbuckling 149 runs. There was no reply from the tourists as KP entered the zone and refused to depart. He was untouchable and his stroke play elevated him to the upper echelons of the game’s elite. His press conference afterwards marked him out as a troubled genius.

That evening Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah lit the blue touch paper in Great Britain’s Olympic year. KP’s performance that afternoon was every bit as impressive.

Team of the Year 2012

Everyone has their own ideas about this sort of thing. My selection is based upon Test cricket for the reason that it’s my favourite format. I love it. It also separates the wheat from the chaff: there is nowhere to hide in Test cricket, you have to stand up to be counted.

There are some notable exclusions to this side, but I’ve chosen those players that have stood up to be counted and made a real difference to their side’s fortunes. I’ll doff my cap to the near misses at the end.

Graeme Smith – 825 runs @ 48.52 3X 100 hs 131

Smith led the Proteas in a fantastic, unbeaten year. He led from the front, laying solid foundations for his flashier teammates. He’s often painful to watch, but he isn’t half effective. No one took more catches (23) either.

Alastair Cook – 1249 runs @48.03 4X 100 hs 190

Assuming the captaincy ahead of a tricky tour to India, Cook kept his composure and took to full time leadership like a fish to water. It was a tricky start to the year, but he finished it with aplomb. Would you want to bowl at an opening combo of Cook and Smith?

Hashim Amla – 1064 runs @ 70.93 4X 100 hs 311*

He just keeps on improving. England were sick of the sight of Amla and his beard, stuck to the crease like a limpet last summer. A pivotal part of South Africa’s rise.

Marlon Samuels – 866 runs @ 86.60 3X 100 hs 260

The West Indies showed signs of improvement in 2012 despite a couple of heavy looking losses to Australia and England. The improvement was exemplified by Samuels, who found some truly extraordinary form and looked to enjoy every minute of it. I know this side is based on Tests, but what a performance in the final of the World T20…

Michael Clarke – 1595 runs @ 106.33 5X 100 hs 329*

More runs, more centuries, more double centuries, a higher average than anyone else in 2012… He also scored faster than anyone else with 550 or more runs. It was a year the great Don Bradman would rightly have been proud of.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul – 987 runs @ 98.70 3X 100 hs 203*

How do you get shot of Chanderpaul? He just keeps on going. Just when he looks like perhaps he’s had enough, he pulls a few top performances out of the bag and continues to frustrate all and sundry who have to bowl at him.

AB de Villiers – 815 runs @ 58.21 2X 100 hs 169 and 18 dismissals (17 catches and one stumping) @ 1.64 dismissals per innings

Many, myself included, questioned whether de Villiers could keep up his run scoring exploits whilst donning the keepers’ gloves following the sudden retirement of Mark Boucher following a horrific eye injury. The answer was that he could.

Vernon Philander – 43 wickets @ 21.11

Big Vern, as well as being a terrific bowler, can also bat a bit. He’d make a very useful number eight in this company. He’d also make a very useful new ball partner for…

James Anderson – 48 wickets @ 29.50

The Lancastrian has been at the top of his game for the past four years now. He’s taken wickets everywhere and troubled everyone. He’s the first name on England’s team sheet and a certainty for hypothetical sides such as this.

Kemar Roach – 39 wickets @ 22.25

I’ve gone for a third seamer and I’ve gone for Roach. He impressed in 2012 and if his partners can find his levels of consistency then West Indies could be a match for anyone.

HMRKB Herath – 60 wickets @ 23.61

He’s not the outstanding spin bowler in world cricket but sometimes you just can’t argue with stats. No one took more wickets in 2012. No one took more fiver-fers (seven) and no one took more 10-fers (two).

The nearly men…

Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott were the only others to score more than 1,000 runs last year. Jacques Kallis also enjoyed a terrific year and ran Samuels close in my final selection, as Michael Hussey ran Chanderpaul close, too.

Cheteshwar Pujara impressed everyone against England, but only played six Tests in 2012. I fully expect him to feature very soon. Ross Taylor also had a tremendous year in the face of adversity, at the end of which he was stripped of the New Zealand captaincy in controversial circumstances.

Matt Prior was the best out and out wicketkeeper but having de Villiers at seven was a luxury one simply could not ignore. Prior also failed to notch a century in 2012.

Graeme Swann would replace Roach in the above if the conditions called for two spinners. He rediscovered his mojo on the subcontinent and ended the year in fine fashion in India.

Saeed Ajmal would have walked into the side, but Pakistan only played six Tests. He ruined England almost alone, but didn’t have the same success in Sri Lanka.

It wasn’t a vintage year for bowling and the reserve seam options aren’t brilliant. Peter Siddle is a tough competitor, but has his fitness issues. Stuart Broad ended the year by getting dropped and Dale Steyn wasn’t at his fearsome best. He’d make a handy reserve for this side, though!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and please feel free to let us know if you agree/disagree with any of the selections. Here’s to an enthralling 2013!!

By Miles Reucroft

The West Indies celebrate as only they can after defeating Sri Lanka in the ICC World T20 final in Colombo

This was a tournament that only featured one team score in excess of 200. There was plenty of rain, a lot of moaning about the suitability of the Duckworth/Lewis method in settling T20 encounters and a lot of empty seats in the stands.

Sri Lanka and Colombo came alive for the final at the Premadasa, with the stands rocking beneath a sea of flags. This is an island that loves its cricket, but the early group games and some of the Super Eight fixtures failed to catch the imagination of the locals. Unlike the Caribbean in 2007, the ticket prices weren’t excessive, either.

There were some performances to get the T20 juices flowing, though, and the complete wash out that many predicted in advance of the Super Eights failed to materialise. There are many questions for the ICC to look into and the continued use of D/L in T20s must be one of them.

It was also painfully predictable at first. The associate nations were easily swept aside and even Bangladesh failed to provide any sort of an upset. Ireland and Afghanistan battled valiantly, but Zimbabwe did nothing to further the cause for including more associate nations at such tournaments.

They were drubbed by Sri Lanka and South Africa and looked humiliatingly out of their depth. Ajantha Mendis’s 6/8 against them in the first game set a tone from which they couldn’t recover. Likewise Ireland, who lost skipper William Porterfield first ball in both games, never quite reached the level to which we know they can play.

So the Super Eights consisted of the super eight powers in world cricket. There were two super over finishes involving a lucky/unlucky (delete as you see fit) New Zealand side that failed to reach the semis. There was a capitulation/choke (definitely a choke) from South Africa and the defending World Champions, England, were sent packing amid confused selections, poor openings to their innings and the fact their best batsman was in the studio for ESPN Star Sports.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan progressed with consummate ease to the semis, to be joined by West Indies and, surprisingly, Australia. The West Indian batsmen found top gear against Australia, mercilessly hammering a beleaguered Xavier Doherty in an extraordinary final over that resulted in the only team score above 200. Their bowlers upheld their end of the bargain and they met Sri Lanka, who restricted Pakistan’s consistent side to a crawl in their chase.

Marlon Samuels, being dusted off by his team mates, had a terrific tournament for the West Indies. Also, is this the best celebration you've seen on a cricket pitch?

There was some brilliant cricket played and the tournament seemed to get better as it progressed. It was still apt, however, that the final was something of a one-man show given the seemingly collective brain-freeze that sides had in getting a grip of the conditions.

Player of the Tournament
Given the low scoring nature of the final – West Indies defended 137 – Marlon Samuels’ 78, his highest score of the tournament, was a man hitting top form when the chips were down. To put it into perspective, the next best score was 33. Samuels destroyed the world’s best T20 bowler, or so we thought, Lasith Malinga in a brutal innings that dragged West Indies from 32/2 after 10 over to a defendable 137.

He finished the tournament with 230 runs and three wickets, bowling an economical spell of 1/15 in the final that further ruined Sri Lanka’s evening. It was the culmination of a year in which Samuels has risen to prominence in the international game following a few years in the cricketing wilderness.

An honourable mention in this section must also go to Shane Watson. If you thought West Indies were too reliant upon Chris Gayle, what would Australia be without Watson? They had no business reaching the semis but for the bloody-mindedness and big hitting of Watson. When he ran out of puff, in the semis, Australia deflated.

He top scored at the tournament with 249 runs at a hugely impressive strike rate of 150.00. Add to that 11 wickets and he was the tournament’s second highest wicket taker. West Indies got him out early, though, and the frailties of Australia’s middle order were exposed for all to see.

Ajantha Mendis finished with 15 wickets. It was good to see the mystery spinner back to his best following eight months away from international cricket. His 6/8 Vs Zimbabwe was extraordinary, but Zimbabwe were awful.

Sunil Narine’s3/9 for West Indies in the final gave them the push they needed and he even made Kumar Sangakkara look a rank amateur in his opening over as he ripped the ball from outside leg stump, across the left hander. It was spin bowling at its very best and followed an impressive 4/12 during West Indies’ innings from Mendis.

In case you were wondering what a one man team looks like, here's a picture of Shane Watson

The Some Things Never Change Award…

Just when it looked like they had a side that could dispel the tag that has hung around them since they re-entered international cricket, South Africa went and choked again, losing all three Super Eight games.

ICC Pulse Questions that were never asked…

Does Andre Russell look like a dick with his sunglasses glued to the back of his head?

Do you find David Lloyd’s new ‘Wallop!’ catchphrase annoying, or really annoying?

Is there a better looking batsman than Virat Kohli right now?

Has coverage of the tournament incorporated enough corporate messages, fireworks and shouting for your liking?

I hope you enjoyed the tournament. I was delighted that West Indies managed to win it, they seem to be everyone’s second favourite team and hopefully this will inspire resurgence in Caribbean cricket.

By Miles Reucroft

The run away leader of our pool, CricLover, has enjoyed a sterling start and the rest are already playing catch up!

There are some juicy encounters in the next four games and I’ve published my predictions below:

Match 5 – Bangladesh Vs New Zealand – Ban to win by 10 runs or 4 wickets
Match 6 – Afghanistan Vs England – Eng to win by 45 runs or 6 wickets
Match 7 – Sri Lanka Vs South Africa – SL to win by 13 runs or 4 wickets
Match 8 – Australia Vs West Indies – Aus to win by 10 runs or 4 wickets

It’s not too late to join us over at Super Bru – http://www.superbru.com/worldt20/pool.asp?p=11025116 we currently have 50 players, so thanks to everyone who is taking part. Don’t forget to get your predictions in on time!

Feel free to agree or, more likely disagree, with us on Facebook, Twitter and below.

Reigning champions England face a tough challenge to retain the trophy. That bloke on the left will be missed...

The gap between the bigger and smller teams has closed in recent years. Looking at the groups, there are potential banana skins everywhere. India or England could exit to Afghanistan, Bangladesh will fancy taking down one of Pakistan or New Zealand and Ireland, ranking above Australia recently, could feasibly topple them and/or West Indies. Only Sri Lanka and South Africa look safe, with Zimbabwe to contend with. Never say never, though…

The top two from the three team groups proceed to the Super Eight – two groups of four. No points are carried forward from the first group stage. Let us proceed…

Group A – England, India and Afghanistan locks horns here. The Afghans are up against it with the reigning champions and inaugural winners to battle, but really have nothing to lose. Formulas and plans can quickly unravel in Twenty20 and as Eoin Morgan recently expressed, there is a fear of the unknown, represented here by Afghanistan. It’d be a major shock if England and India don’t proceed, though.

Group B – Australia, West Indies and Ireland collide in the most awkward looking of the preliminary groups. Australia has been woeful recently and George Bailey, brought in as skipper with no previous international experience at the turn of the year, has a job on his hands. Tournament experience should aid the Aussies as Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo should aid the WIndies. What price another Kevin O’Brien miracle, though?

Group C – Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe form the simplest looking group. Zimbabwe shouldn’t prove too tough for the big guns, so this should be a painfully predictable group, with the Super Eight seeding already determined.

Group D – Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh play out the toughest of groups. It’s impossible to say with any certainty which two will escape, although Pakistan looks very strong. The conditions will likely favour Bangladesh, so we’ll back the Tigers to expel the Kiwis.

"Stick a fiver on Pakistan and you won't go far wrong," says this wise old fortune teller...

Super Eight groups (based on our predictions)

Group 1 – England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

We’re backing West Indies and Sri Lanka to advance into the semi finals, with the hosts going through as group winners. The home conditions are an obvious advantage, but this is also a strong Sri Lankan outfit. Dilshan, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Mathews, A Mendis, Malinga; that’s a spine upon which you can dress a very competitive side.

We reckon England will struggle, too. The side’s recent adventures in similar conditions have been unproductive, although the limited overs form is good. Very good. The one player who is a prized asset in the Indian Premier League, however, is absent. A lot will depend upon the performances of Eoin Morgan and how Stuart Broad copes as a skipper in tight situations. Not well enough to stop the West Indies, we suspect.

With Gayle, Pollard, Narine, Smith, the Bravos, this looks a cracking Twenty20 side and is perhaps the West Indies’ best chance of silverware since the 2004 Champions Trophy. All of these guys have played extensively in the IPL and should be at least vaguely familiar with the conditions. That will give them the edge over England and Bangladesh, the other side to perish at this stage.

Group 2 – India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan

We’re going for South Africa to win the group, closely followed by Pakistan. Controversial? Perhaps, but is India’s bowling strong enough? The batting certainly is and we fully expect Virat Kohli to drag the side as far as he can, but is there enough all round talent to topple Pakistan or South Africa?

This is incredibly dismissive of Australia, but it’s no less than that side deserves at the moment. Shane Watson and David Warner can win games by themselves, but the problem facing Australia is highlighted by the inclusion of Brad Hogg. Who said this was a young man’s game? Hogg is 41. Good player, but is there no one else out there?

Pakistan look surprisingly settled right now, led by Mohammad Hafeez with a host of multi-talented performers. Along with Hafeez, there is Afridi, Malik, the Akmals (even Kamran is looking okay right now), Ajmal and Gul. There’s pace, there’s spin, there’s big hitting. Will the fielding be up to the mark? That’s the only concern. For now…

South Africa is looking to remove the ‘choker’ tag that has hung round its neck like a millstone for many, many years. The performances in England suggest that the time is near. de Villiers, Amla, Kallis, the Morkels, Steyn, du Plessis, Levi, even Botha and Peterson; it will be a special team that stops this lot. The winners perhaps, in the final.

Mohammad Hafeez leads our favourite for the title - Pakistan. He could be celebrating again come come October 7...

Semi Final 1 – Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan
Semi Final 2 – West Indies Vs South Africa

We fancy a repeat of the Group 2 fixture, with Pakistan and South Africa locking horns once more in Colombo on Sunday October 7. We said it’d take a special performance to topple South Africa and who could think of a more mercurial side than Pakistan?

So, we predict that Pakistan will win the ICC World T20 for a second time. Would you really bet against that happening? We’re usually wrong, so you probably would, but we’ve got to be right some time!

Feel free to share your comments/predictions with us throughout the tournament on Twitter or via Facebook, or use the old fashioned route of posting your comments below! Don’t forget to join our predictions pool, too. Enjoy…

By Miles Reucroft

To get involved, simply visit http://www.superbru.com and login/register (depends if you’ve played similar games with us before) and search The Cricket Blog to join our pool, here http://www.superbru.com/worldt20/pool.asp?p=11025116

It’s very straightforward and just a bit of fun. To get the ball rolling, my predictions for Round 1 of the tournament can be seen below. As one or two of you have pointed out in recent times (thanks, Omer!) my predictions are pretty shoddy, but you never know!

Match 1 – Sri Lanka Vs Zimbabwe – SL to win by 20 runs or 6 wickets
Match 2 – Australia Vs Ireland – Aus to win by 15 runs or 5 wickets
Match 3 – Afghanistan Vs India – India to win by 30 runs or 7 wickets
Match 4 – South Africa Vs Zimbabwe – SA to win by 27 runs or 6 wickets

Thanks to being on holiday last week I’ve not had a chance to do a full tournament preview, but I will be picking out some of the performers that we’ll be keeping a close eye on and making a prediction as to who will win the tournament, so please have a read of that this evening/tomorrow morning or whenever I get time to commit my thoughts to the blog!

Feel free to share your comments/predictions with us throughout the tournament on Twitter or via Facebook, or use the old fashioned route of posting your comments below! Enjoy…

By Miles Reucroft

Cricket gets played in some unusual and unlikely places around the world. Third Man in Havana takes us to them

Rodwell is Chairman of The Lord’s Taverners and has had the pleasure of taking cricketing programmes around the world. The book takes us from London to Panama, from Israel to Sri Lanka and New York, spreading the gospel of cricket as it goes.

It is an uplifting narrative highlighting some of the deep rooted social issues at the heart of the territories it portrays, uniting the young, the disabled and the religious factions through the medium of cricket.

The historical perspective of the book also shows how far the game has spread in its time, far beyond the boundaries of the 10 Test playing nations and esteemed associate nations that we see at World Cups.

The foreword to the book is provided by West Indian great, Courtney Walsh. The projects that Rodwell has been involved in and has written about here have been received to widespread acclaim. This is truly a tale of using cricket as a force for good – far removed from its colonial origins.

If you love cricket, which of course you do, you’ll love this book. It’s refreshingly off of the beaten cricketing track and highlights just how important the sport can be.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of Third Man in Havana, simply answer the following question:

Havana is the capital of which country?

Got it? Of course you have! Pop the answer down in the subject line of an e-mail, include your name and postal address and send it to: competitions@thecricketblog.co.uk by Midday (UK time) on Thursday May 10.

Good luck!

Are net sessions more, or less, important to the game's pros like Shahid Afridi?

But what of us mere mortals, those untouched by professionalism and, in a lot of cases, natural talent? Time in the middle is something of a luxury. 10 minutes is a long innings for me.

So, to some extent, nets are a waste of time. Batting uninterrupted for 20 minutes is unnatural and unrealistic. It’s cricketing fiction for many.

There’s also a lack of fear in the nets. You let a few go by your off stump in an attempt to make it appear as though you are taking your precious practice time seriously and then you simply throw the willow at everything with gay abandon. Lose your off peg? No bother.

There are also net shots and ‘real’ shots. In the nets you feel much freer to attempt the expansive drive that you wouldn’t resort to in an actual game in late April. A teammate of mine had a particular penchant for the sweep, except he never felt able to play it in the nets due to a perceived lack of space.

Another issue in the nets is deciding whether or not you’re out. Would that uppish drive have been caught? The bowler always thinks so! Only when you get a chunky edge into the corner of the net can you be sure that four runs would have been collected.

But, for all its flaws, the raison d’être of the net session is feeling the leather on the willow. Aside from leaving you unable to move your body correctly due to muscle strains in awkward locations, of course…

A bit like practicing penalties at training in football, nets don’t prepare you for the real thing. Sure, you can practice those wristy flicks and landing the ball on a good length, but instinct in a game overrides this. A once weekly net session won’t alter your instincts.

So, Sir Ian is right. In a way. For professional cricketers. For the rest of us, it’s the only chance we get to experience a prolonged spell with the ball or time at the crease. It is also a rare bit of exercise for some of us, and that should be encouraged.

By Miles Reucroft

Ian Bell had the best batting average in 2011

It was the year England became world number one, three internationals were imprisoned in England and the year that India won the World Cup on home soil.

There were debuts to remember and performances to forget, but we look back, from a Test cricket perspective, at the best players of 2011 and select our Team of the Year.

Bowling – Saeed Ajmal 50 wickets @ 23.86
Batting – Rahul Dravid 1145 runs @ 57.25
Wicket Keeping – MS Dhoni 50 dismissals inc 3 stumpings
Fielding – Darren Sammy 18 catches (really, look it up)
Umpiring – Rod Tucker stood in 10 Tests

There are four players from the cream of 2010’s crop to have merited inclusion in the 2011 roster. Sehwag, Iqbal, Trott, Tendulkar, Kallis, Swann and Amir have all fallen from grace or been usurped by superior performers these past 12 months.

We’ll start by highlighting those players who narrowly missed the cut:

Misbah ul-Haq – has been quietly brilliant for Pakistan
Younis Khan – his return has seen an upturn in Pakistan’s fortunes
Kevin Pietersen – back to something approaching his best in 2011
Shakib Al Hasan – became first Bangladeshi to score a ton and take five-for in same Test
Umar Gul – Another crucial member of a resurgent Pakistan side
Vernon Philander – dream start to his international career, but more to come
James Pattinson – same as above
Devendra Bishoo – has offered West Indies another option with his canny spin

So, onto our selection. Please feel free to leave your comments and argue for your players at the bottom!

Alastair Cook – 927 runs @ 84.27 hs 294
Cook carried his stunning Ashes form into 2011 and was instrumental in England pushing past India at the top of the ICC rankings. His 294 against India at Edgbaston was the highest score of the year.

Taufeeq Umar – 831 runs @ 46.16 hs 236
Another key component in an increasingly impressive Pakistan outfit. Taufeeq top scored for them in 2011, amassing three centuries along the way. He offers them some much needed stability at the top of the order.

Rahul Dravid – 1145 runs @ 57.25 hs 146*
All hail The Wall! Dravid was, by some distance, India’s stand out performer in 2011. As his team mates gave up the ghost, his defiant resistance of the inevitable sums this man up.

Kumar Sangakkara – 1034 runs @ 49.23 hs 211
As Sri Lanka’s winless stretch post-Murali expanded, former skipper Sangakkara remained a crucial figure in an increasingly fragile batting line up. Intelligent, calm and calculated Sri Lanka would be significantly poorer without him.

Ian Bell – 950 runs @ 118.75 hs 235
2011 was a year to remember for Bell as he stamped his authority on the highest level, finishing the year with the highest average going. The only selection headache around the wee Warwickshire man is where to place him in the batting line up now.

Darren Bravo – 949 runs @49.94 hs 195
Cousin and impersonator of the great Brian Lara, in Bravo, West Indians have a man to get very excited about. There is a panache about him that echoes the great man and his style and swagger are eerily similar. He’s also scoring the runs to fuel the excited comparisons

Matt Prior – 519 runs @ 64.87 hs 126 & 36 dismissals inc 2 stumpings
Still the best keeper in the world (at least at Test level) he comprehensively outperformed his opposite number, MS Dhoni last summer. There is no discussion about England’s number one keeper these days.

Stuart Broad – 33 wickets @ 22.30 & 239 runs @ 39.83
After a poor start to 2011 with injury and form Vs Sri Lanka, Broad burst back to life against India and demonstrated to everyone why he deserves his spot in the England side. A useful option with the bat, he looks to have finally sorted out his lines when bowling.

Dale Steyn – 28 wickets @ 19.57
Put simply, he is the best fast bowler in the world.

James Anderson – 35 wickets @ 24.85
His third consecutive year in our Team of the Year, Anderson is now the model of consistency that he threatened never to become. When the ball is swinging, he is the last man you want to see running in towards you.

Saeed Ajmal – 50 wickets @ 23.86
The only man to reach 50 Test wickets in 2011, Ajmal is arguably the most important player in Pakistan right now. He’s added discipline to his array of talents and I for one cannot wait to see his one-on-one battle with Graeme Swann in January 2012. That contest will settle the argument as to who is the best spinner in world cricket right now.

By Miles Reucroft