Decade review

A video look back at Ricky Ponting in the 2000s

Cricinfo's Player of the Decade title is "a great honour and a great thrill" for Australia's captain

Like Bradman before him, Ponting turned the opposition into ball-ferriers, delighting in his mastery all the while

Australian captain beats Jacques Kallis to be voted cricketer of the 2000s

Flintoff's Edgbaston magic, a Tendulkar gem, that 434 chase, and the IPL's fiery start feature in the second part of our performances of the decade

City-based franchises or a world Test championship? Best- and worst-case scenarios for the new decade

One of the greatest Tests of the decade, four World Cup performances, a seven-for, and a blazing double feature in the first part of our performances of the decade

More results in Tests, more rewards for spinners; but batsmen dominate. A look at some significant numbers from the 10 years gone by

Test cricket will die, Twenty20 will kill it; Test cricket will thrive, Twenty20 will peter out: our writers and columnists have all sorts of predictions for the 2010s

The influx of big money into cricket in the last decade has parallels in other sports; there are lessons to be found there as well

For England, despite the Ashes successes, the overriding feeling as the 2000s drew to a close was one of a gnawing emptiness

The game was an afterthought in a decade of near anarchy under the Mugabe regime: Zimbabwe lost Test status, most of its senior players, and the compassion of the cricketing world

Cricket has become a victim of the culture of fun. Now there are no sub-plots, no drama and no rivalries; it's difficult to gauge the value of players, and hard to get excited about all but a few match-ups

Numbers indicate that the noughties was the best decade for batting in a long, long time

Aided by fat bats, flat pitches and the absence of menacing bowlers, batsmen made merry in the 2000s, setting new records and devaluing Test run-making in the process

The last decade in Indian cricket was defined by three kinds of madness

Twenty20 can save or destroy cricket. India, the financial backbone, must lead the rest into the decade with responsibility and vision

Five Australians figure in each of the two XIs of the decade picked by Cricinfo's jury

Over this decade the role of the coach assumed more importance and complexity than it ever had before. Opinion, though, has remained divided on the utility of the position

In the 2000s, West Indies went further and faster down the slippery slope they started on the decade before, as infighting, apathy and instability came to reign