The year of the left-arm bowlers

If 2003 was the year of the No. 3 batsmen, then 2004 belonged to the left-arm bowlers. Last year, they only managed 212 out of 1289 wickets, which translates into just 16%. In 2004, led by Chaminda Vaas, Irfan Pathan, Daniel Vettori and Ashley Giles, they increased their tally to 375, and nailed more than 24% of the total wickets. The difference was especially stark for Pathan and Pedro Collins: last year, Pathan made his Test debut against Australia at Adelaide, and returned unflattering figures of 1 for 160. Collins was even worse, taking one wicket at the cost of 263 runs in two Tests against Australia.

This year, aided by a kind itinerary which included matches against Bangladesh, both enjoyed plenty of success - Pathan's 38 wickets for the year included 18 against the Banglas and came at 24 apiece, while Collins managed 35 in eight (14 in two against Bangladesh) at a similar average. Add Vaas's 40 scalps, and other handy contributions from Nuwan Zoysa (20), Zaheer Khan (19) and James Franklin (13), and the tally for left-arm seamers burgeoned to 168 from last year's measly 45.

The success of the left-arm orthodox spinners was even more heartening. For the past few years, they had been steadily on the decline - they didn't have the variations of the wristspinners or the doosra that the offspinners had recently developed, making them the most toothless of the lot.

However, this year, Vettori and Giles led the revival as the left-armers hit back with a vengeance. India had Murali Kartik, who at last translated some of his potential into performance, Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath showed that he was more than just another trundler, Mohammad Rafique, though not as successful as in 2003, added 25 wickets in eight Tests, and Michael Clarke put in a freak performance on a minefield at Mumbai. Vettori and Giles were the dominant players, though - both took 38 wickets at nearly the same rate (Vettori's cost 32 while Giles claimed his at 30 apiece).

Among the batsmen, the No. 3 slot was dominant again, though not to the extent it was in 2003. Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara and Ramnaresh Sarwan all had a prolific season, though Ricky Ponting slipped off from his lofty perch of 2003, averaging only 41 compared to 100 the previous year.

Like in the bowlers' list, left-handers were in the forefront with the bat as well, making up seven of the year's top 11 run-getters, all of whom scored in excess of 1000 in 2004. It was a prolific year for Western Australians too, with two of them leading the way.

Among the bowlers, Anil Kumble and Shane Warne took the honours in terms of wickets, though Glenn McGrath's average of 18.47 was easily the best of the lot.