Awards for the year

Now the Christmas turkey has settled, and the last dry mince pie has been washed down with another glass of sherry, it's time to reflect on the year in cricket, and resolve how to make 2015 even better.

Best promotional campaign
The man "who shall not be named" was on every TV and radio chat show across the globe. A one-man circus, KP's book tour came with as much fanfare - and hyperbole - as a political campaign. However, although the World Cup doesn't begin until 2015, it is the uplifting and slickly filmed ICC advertisement for the competition that trumps the Pietersen bandwagon.

Worst drop (catch, not player)
In 2005 Shane Warne dropped the Ashes. On his way to a match-winning 158 at The Oval, KP sliced one, at a perfectly catchable height, and the urn went in and out of Warne's hands. Did the captaincy, and the selectors' faith, hit the turf when Alastair Cook spilled Kumar Sangakkara on 41 in Kandy? Sangakkara went on to make 112, and Cook was lbw second ball.

Worst drop (player, not catch)
That England's highest run-scorer in the miserable Ashes loss was forever - at least as long as Moores and Downton draw breath - exorcised from the national side, merits a nomination. Maybe he's past his best? Maybe he'll light up the Big Bash and show the Big Cheese (Matt Prior) and the Woodpecker (Peter Moores) what they're missing?

Worst anger management
Well, Ben Stokes broke his wrist punching a locker door, and in a Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers game Mitchell Starc aimed a dead ball at Kieron Pollard when he was stepping away - inciting him to launch his bat back up the wicket. And don't forget Jimmy Anderson "allegedly" shoving Ravindra Jadeja in the Trent Bridge corridor.

Best over
Dale Steyn and Mitchell Johnson are the obvious contenders. Steyn's death bowling is a supreme display of control and intent, and the destructive Johnson - even when taking apart the England rabbits - is a sight to behold. Yet the six balls that most amazed me in 2014 were those delivered by ESPNcricinfo's very own Andy Zaltzman at the Words and Wickets festival. It turns out that the stat-tastic cricket pundit and stand-up comedian is also an ambidextrous bowler, changing actions as easily as KP does teams - and more effectively. The event was such that another ESPNcricinfo legend, The Old Batsman, dedicated an entire blog to it.

Worst over of the year
This unfortunate sequence of six deliveries features, again, Ben Stokes. Although he was given a last-chance saloon by Eoin Morgan in Colombo, his second one-over spell in Hambantota was the death knell for his World Cup chances - you could argue that Cook's decision to bring Stokes back for another pasting didn't improve his leadership odds.

Best sledge
Cue Andrew Strauss, believing he was off air during the MCC versus the Rest of the World bicentenary match, when he decided to tell Nick Knight what he thought of a former team-mate. Yup, he called KP a "c***", and had to apologise to the masses and admit that he was "mortified" a very private thought had been made public.

Best speech
Michael Clarke was nobility personified when he stood up at the beloved Philip Hughes' funeral and delivered a beautiful and moving eulogy. The statesman-like Clarke not only did the memory of Hughes admirable service, but also cricket, with the eyes of the world watching.

Worst umpiring decision
It feels wrong to adjudge those who triggered my own wicket for this gong, so I shall nominate myself. A couple of days after writing a piece on the tribulations of amateur umpiring I donned the white coat and announced "play". A team-mate and friend who was struggling for form - he had bagged a hat-trick of golden ducks - was hit plumb in front third ball of the innings. I couldn't sentence him to another trudge back to the boundary and kept my finger down. Next ball I hoped he'd get his pad a bit further outside off stump. Well, he did, and when the cherry thudded into his shin and the entire slip cordon leapt up I took my finger from my pocket and pointed at his foot, which was outside the line. Unfortunately I raised my finger slightly higher than I needed to show that although the ball would have rattled middle stump, the batsman had stepped far enough outside to be safe. Seeing my single digit, the bowler cheered and the batsman tucked his unused blade under his arm and sloped away before I had time to explain myself. I had managed to upset both my friend, the opposition, and the noble profession of umpiring in only four deliveries. This year my finger, unless that ball is indeed running down all three stumps, shall stay firmly in my pocket.

Onward and upward
These are just a few highs and lows of what has been an odd season. Yet despite KP-gate and the sad death of Phillip Hughes, cricket still thrives. And if cricket could make its own resolutions, what would they be?

Firstly, the administrators would pledge to rest players, rather than having them jet around the world hammering out pointless ODI series. Next, the game would cut out sledging, at least for January, and then, when players started chirping again in February, they'd realise how ridiculous all that noise and insult actually sounded.

And the ultimate resolution? That would be for unity, between players, coaches, officials and administrating bodies. No one who loves cricket wants anything but the best for the game. Just for one year, a World Cup year, perhaps the fairy-tale spirit of that ICC advertisement can be realised.