The other Ashes and Hussey's long wait

Jenny Thompson

Best
Eighteen years without an Ashes series win - that's a long time. Now try 42. England's women finally did it at Worcester in September, and they came to the Trafalgar party, as well; jumping on the buses and then on to the stage with the men. Quite right, too. That victory crowned a great year for the women's game in which the IWCC merged with the ICC and players were paid - for the first time. Two giant leaps for womankind.

Worst
Why did it have to end? The moment England won the Ashes was both zenith and nadir - and not just because I missed out on the Greatest Party Ever TM through having my Wisdom teeth out. No - all our Christmases came at once during a scorching summer of sustained and never-to-be-repeated Test drama; it was truly breathtaking stuff. But now what? Well, my mouth has healed but a kind of numbness lingers.

Jenny Thompson is assistant editor of Cricinfo

George Binoy

Best
There's something very pleasing when years of hard work are met with just reward. Michael Hussey's elation at capping 176 first-class matches worth of effort with a century in his second Test was thoroughly heart-felt and a pleasure to watch. It had the joy of a little boy who'd made the team for the first time. Though, at 30, his career may not have the longevity to make him an all-time great, it's a safe bet that he'd never trade that century at Hobart for a 10-year career.

Worst
The individual is never greater than the game. Several cricketers have had their careers cut short by a few years for the greater common good, but sections of the 80,000-strong multitude at Kolkata behaved like dropping Sourav Ganguly was blasphemy. Loud cheers for South Africa, believed only by the utterly naïve to be a sporting gesture, were drowned by deafening jeers targeted at India. It was a disgraceful moment and one that will most certainly rank as one of the worst moments in the careers of the players.

George Binoy is editorial assistant of Cricinfo