Bookended by ignominy

England's 2007 began in ignominy in Sydney, where they succumbed to their first Ashes whitewash for 86 years. It ended with another embarrassing notch in the record-books in Galle, when Sri Lanka bundled them out for 81, their lowest total in 74 years of Test cricket on the subcontinent. In between whiles, they were humiliated in a World Cup campaign for the fourth time running, lost their first home series against India for 21 years, and slipped from their long-term position of No. 2 in the world rankings to No. 5. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a successful year.

Instead it was a year of closure and new beginnings. A year in which the pretence was finally stripped away. For 18 heady months between March 2004 and September 2005, at the zenith of Duncan Fletcher's regime, England really were a team of world-beaters. Since that time, however, there has been a steady seepage of class and expertise. The team might one day be ready to push for further summits, but for now it's all about getting the base camp back in order.

That is the task of Peter Moores, whose appointment as head coach on April 20 marked the true start of England's year. He was given the role ahead of other more glamorous alternatives such as Sri Lanka's outgoing coach, Tom Moody, and though the on-field results haven't flattered Moores, the strides he has made are not insignificant. In particular, by turning two Fletcher discards, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann, into central planks of England's new Test and ODI teams, he's sent out a subtle message to the long-neglected county circuit. Fletcher's bubble has been burst, and from now on things can and will be different.

Behind the scenes the team has been acquiring a renewed solidity as well. Andy Flower and Ottis Gibson have been excellent and authoritative appointments as Moores' deputies, and the overall impression - best exemplified by a rejuvenated Steve Harmison - is of a squad that enjoys its cricket once again.

That's certainly been the case in one-day cricket, which - perhaps for the first time since the early 1990s - has been England's most successful version of the game. February's CB Series victory may have been an anomaly, but there was nothing fluky about England's hard-earned series wins against India at home and Sri Lanka away. Under the leadership of Paul Collingwood, who owes his entire international career to the disciplines he learned in the one-day arena, England no longer treat the format like a second-class citizen. It's just a shame they've woken up to the game at the very moment that the rest of the world is looking towards Twenty20s.

England have never treated Test cricket with the same disdain, although their year in whites was a sleepy one nonetheless. They managed just three victories all year - statistically their worst performances since the dog days of 1999 - and all three of those came against West Indies, in arguably the most depressingly uncompetitive four-Test series of all time. West Indies were abysmal and England - certainly their bowlers - were barely better than average. Coming so soon after the World Cup, it was a further reminder of how far the Caribbean has tumbled since the glory days of the 1980s.

The most uplifting moment of that dank series came in Headingley, where Michael Vaughan not only took the field for his first Test since 2005, but also caressed his way to a comeback hundred. He added a second century two months later, against India at Trent Bridge, and at times batted with the poise and panache of his glory years at the top end of the decade. As a captain, however, he was strangely off the pace - perhaps he, like his team, needs time to readjust his sights after ruling so many contests for so long.

England's year ended dispiritingly beneath the walls of Galle's ancient fort, where they lost consecutive Test series for the first time since 2001-02. But no result was quite as desperate as the one with which they entered the year. Sydney was the nadir. Everything else, good and bad, has been part of a long rebuilding process that will continue well into 2008.

New man on the block
Ryan Sidebottom. At 29, and with a six-year hiatus in his Test career to take into account, he's not your average spring chicken. But no player has given more to England's cause this year. Sidebottom has been reliable, aggressive and skilful with the ball - not to mention hugely unlucky - and with the bat he's done an uncanny impersonation of Ashley Giles, hanging in at No. 8 with tenacity and technique to brace England's tail against imminent collapse. In the Sri Lanka series, he faced more deliveries than Kevin Pietersen, which tells its own story.

Fading star
Andrew Flintoff's decline and fall was the saddest tale of the year, and no player better epitomised the heights from which England have tumbled. January's Ashes captain became April's World Cup scapegoat, and the Fredalo headlines were quadrupled following the publication of Duncan Fletcher's memoirs. Running alongside all the tales of drinking and form loss was a very public battle for fitness. The sight of a barely mobile Flintoff hobbling through the ICC World Twenty20 was one of the most poignant of the year.

High point
England's excellent and hugely unexpected ODI series win in Sri Lanka. Nobody gave Collingwood's men a prayer as they set off for a five-match contest in one of the world's toughest environments for visiting players. But they came from behind to triumph 3-2 thanks to the extreme diligence of a young and eager seam attack, and the exuberance of a squad that feared no challenge.

Low point
If you take Sydney as a given, there's only one other contender: the desperate first-innings performance at Galle. England won the toss and bowled poorly in friendly conditions, but nowhere near as poorly as they batted. Wicket after wicket tumbled in a feckless frenzy, and Muttiah Muralitharan was only involved in one of them. All out for 81, and the series was settled there and then. Afterwards they were booed onto the team bus, and reconvened the following day with unflattering banners hanging from the walls of the fort.

What does 2008 hold?
Consolidation on all fronts. First up, it's a home and away series against a New Zealand side in a similar state of rebuilding, which ought to suit England better than an Ashes or Asian challenge. South Africa are the main event of the summer, and amid all their fraught politicking there's no telling quite how they will front up at present. One senses that the year will be especially telling for Vaughan. He desperately wants to lead England in the 2009 Ashes, but he needs to get the results moving in the right direction soon.