The Wisden Forty
Lawrence Booth and Rob Smyth
The Wisden Forty, including the Leading Cricketer in the World, have been selected by Wisden as the top 40 cricketers in the game on the basis of their class and form shown in all cricket during the calendar year 2006. The selections were made in consultation with many of the world's most experienced cricket writers and commentators. In the end, though, they were Wisden's choices, guided by the statistics but not governed by them. The selection panel are no more infallible than any other selectors.
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With Bond, you know the script in advance: once again, his year was a mixture of exasperatingly frequent injury and occasionally thrilling harm to opposition batting line-ups. He managed only four of New Zealand's eight Tests because of a stomach virus and then a long-term knee injury, but won the match award in the two victories he played in: against West Indies at Auckland, when he dismissed Lara with both balls he bowled to him, and Sri Lanka at Christchurch. Bond was the poster boy in an essentially faceless New Zealand side, but fate skimped on the Blu-tack and he kept falling down. On song, he was up there with the world's best fast bowlers: of his 18 Test wickets, five fell for ducks and a further eight in single figures. In an age of flat pitches and capricious bowlers, Bond was one to cherish. It was just a shame sightings were so rare.
2006:
4 Tests: 36 runs @ 9.00; 18 wickets @ 26.16
11 ODI: 26 runs @ 13.00; 21 wickets @ 22.04
Stuart Clark Australia
Just as batsmen looked free from a life of torture by tall, forensic, metronomic
Australian seamers, Clark pulled them back in. His similarities to McGrath
were startling. Without a Test cap at the
start of the year, he was a revelation:
brainy, immaculate in his appraisal of the
correct length to bowl, and seemingly
able to move the ball both ways off the
pitch at will. Yet perhaps his greatest
strength was his consistency: only once
in 16 innings did Clark fail to take a
wicket, and only thrice did he go at three
an over, a remarkable achievement in the
modern game. He replaced the absent
McGrath in South Africa, where he took
nine for 89 on debut and 20 wickets at
15 in the series. To prove that was no
fluke, he bowled even better in the Ashes,
this time alongside McGrath, and was again the top wicket-taker with 26 at
17. Batsmen were left hoping that he would be afflicted by second-album
syndrome. There was little else to cling on to.
8 Tests: 81 runs @ 11.57; 42 wickets @ 17.76
14 ODI: 42 runs @ 14.00; 15 wickets @ 43.13
Michael Clarke Australia
With Australia's geriatricos moving ever closer to retirement, Clarke's time
was always going to come again. But it arrived rather sooner than expected
when Shane Watson was ruled out of the Ashes, and he took advantage with a maturity and equilibrium of which few thought him capable. Technically
he was playing much straighter, and psychologically he was now happy to
play the straight man. Even his once-delirious celebrations were restrained.
His 124 at Adelaide, when he reined himself to hit just nine fours from 224
balls, seemed as anonymous as any in modern history, until it acquired new
meaning on a dramatic final day, and his unbeaten 135 in the next Test at
Perth was lost in the wreckage of Gilchrist's onslaught. Where Clarke was
a spectacular presence was in the field; his inclusion was a shot of Botox
to an ageing unit, and few took liberties against him.
6 Tests: 429 runs @ 71.50; no wicket for 60
28 ODI: 729 runs @ 40.50; 8 wickets @ 35.87
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Paul Collingwood England
Collingwood had always craved a regular seat at cricket's top table, and in
2006 he finally got it. Nobody played more than his 14 Tests, and only
Mohammad Yousuf and Dravid faced more deliveries. But although he
averaged over 50, many observers still felt he didn't belong: he reached 50
in only five of his 26 innings, and none came in an England victory, an apt
reflection of his fire-fighting role. When he did get in, however, he invariably
made it count: there was an accelerating 134 not out at Nagpur, his maiden
Test century, a ruthless 186 against Pakistan at Lord's and, most famously
of all, 206 at Adelaide. It was no coincidence that it came on Australia's
most subcontinental wicket. Collingwood's stiff, bottom-handed technique
made him vulnerable on bouncing, seaming pitches, and he struggled badly
against Clark in particular. He remained a magnificent fielder, a consummate
team man and a rugged scrapper confident enough to pick a series-long fight
with Warne (and have a head-to-head average of 151 against him). It was
impossible not to admire him.
14 Tests: 1,121 runs @ 50.95; 1 wicket @ 174.00
18 ODI: 520 runs @ 34.66; 8 wickets @ 39.12
Rahul Dravid India
For most, an average of 60 would have represented unimaginable treasures;
for Dravid, it was merely a means of keeping the stats topped up. He was
his usual, rock-solid self, never more than when grinding out 496 runs at 82
to seal India's first series win in the Caribbean for 35 years. Scores of 81
out of 200 and 68 out of 171 in the victory at Kingston represented one of
the performances of the decade. But there were moments when the pressures
of leading the world's most demanding cricket nation threatened even this
monolith. Hundreds in the draws at Lahore and Faisalabad were followed by
two single-figure dismissals - for the first time in the same Test for four
years - during the doomed decider at Karachi, and he went surprisingly
century-less at home to England. The tour of South Africa turned out to be
a personal and collective disappointment but, with Tendulkar either injured
or below-par, Dravid's wicket was the one most treasured by the opposition.
And he remained the most courteous and affable captain on the circuit.
12 Tests: 1,095 runs @ 60.83
27 ODI: 919 runs @ 35.34
Stephen Fleming New Zealand
Perhaps Fleming's outstanding achievement was that he was going strong
in his tenth year as New Zealand captain. There was no sign of burnout;
indeed, at 33, he was still burning himself in as a leader: he found all the
possibilities of field placing, bowling changes and mind games infinitely
fascinating. He remained impressively hard-nosed, and didn't suffer fools
gladly, which was unfortunate given some of the personnel at his disposal.
He became the first New Zealander to play 100 Tests, against South Africa
at Centurion, and then slammed a year-defining 262 in the next match at
Cape Town. His cover-drive was as pristine as ever, and his slip fielding as
reliable; no non-keeper exceeded Fleming's 19 catches. The only black spot
was his continued inability to reach fifty in the second innings; by the end
of the year, he had not done so in 44 months and 20 attempts.
8 Tests: 570 runs @ 47.50
11 ODI: 390 runs @ 35.45
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Andrew Flintoff England
It was the year in which England's superhero was dramatically stripped of
his powers: there were no centuries, no five-fors and, most surprisingly, none
of the joie de vivre that usually characterises his game. He remained one
of the best fast bowlers in the world, but his batting was racked by indecision:
his strike-rate of 51 runs per 100 balls was down by 13 from the previous
year. Yet when Flintoff, replacing Vaughan as captain in India at the last
minute, led an inexperienced side to a victory in Mumbai as improbable
and uplifting as any in recent memory, it seemed there was nothing he
couldn't do. The first signs of trouble came against Sri Lanka at Lord's,
when Flintoff overbowled himself horribly (51 overs in the second innings)
in a failed bid for victory. He then missed the Pakistan series for more ankle
surgery, before returning as captain in Australia, beating Strauss to the job
by a whisker. He led from the front with a truly heroic bowling display in
the First Test, but the gyp from a dodgy ankle and an even dodgier team
soon began to wear him down, and long before the series was over he had
the empty stare of a beaten man. It was hard to escape the conclusion that
the captaincy had emasculated him, particularly with the bat: at first it had
inspired him to make four consecutive, controlled half-centuries in India but,
as the year went on, Flintoff seemed unsure whether to stick or biff, and in
the remaining seven Tests he averaged just 20. England were left hoping
that the return of Vaughan would lead to the return of the real Flintoff.
10 Tests: 469 runs @ 31.26; 33 wickets @ 33.78
7 ODI: 102 runs @ 14.57; 6 wickets @ 29.33
Chris Gayle West Indies
At his best, Gayle mixed nonchalance and big hitting like no one else in
the game. His 37 sixes in all Tests and one-day internationals were more
than any other player, and almost two-thirds of his 1,217 one-day runs -
only Sangakkara scored more - came in boundaries. Three hundreds at the
Champions Trophy made him the indisputable player of the tournament. At
his worst, he lacked drive, ruthlessness and, many felt, concentration. In 11 of his 18 Test innings he made between
30 and 93, and a pair in the deciding
Fourth Test against India in Jamaica
again raised questions about his
temperament. His deceptively languid
off-spin - slow, slow, quick - made him
a genuine all-rounder in the one-day
game, and his left-handed brand of stand
and deliver were one of the few reasons
to keep watching West Indies. If Gayle
could only turn cameos into concrete,
there would have been even more.
10 Tests: 690 runs @ 38.33; 12 wickets @ 43.41
32 ODI: 1,217 runs @ 41.96; 29 wickets @ 33.44
Adam Gilchrist Australia
It was a case of adapt or die as the world's seamers went round the wicket
to harry and stifle Gilchrist, attempting to replicate England's success in
stopping him in 2005. And although the deaths were quicker and more
frequent than before, he occasionally managed to adapt, with predictably
incendiary results. His 86 against South Africa at Sydney was full of
characteristic counter-attack, while his 144 at Fatullah spared Australia the
indignity of following on against Bangladesh; of course, they went on to
win. But the most glorious response came at Perth against England. Had
Gilchrist hit his 55th ball for three, he would have beaten Viv Richards's
record for the fastest Test century, but he had to settle for a 57-ball hundred
instead. In the one-day game, he continued to strike fear at the top of the
order, though his keeping fell just short of his own exacting standards. Still,
with Australia's bowlers creating so many chances, it hardly mattered.
10 Tests: 459 runs @ 38.25; 35 catches, four stumpings.
22 ODI: 810 runs @ 38.57; 32 catches, four stumpings
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Matthew Hayden Australia
Experience - plus the desire to take revenge on England - dictated Hayden's
new-found fastidiousness, forged in the aftermath of the 2005 Ashes and
developed as that year ran its course. Now he applied himself as never before,
taking five hours over a century at Durban, 273 minutes to compile 72 in the
Fatullah run-chase, and 252 to play his way back into form with 92 against
England at Perth. His more natural aggression could not always be tempered,
and the Ashes did not begin well, but with team-mates reaching the end of
their shelf-life - including Langer, his old mucker - Hayden resolved to be
around for another Australian summer and help bed in his new opening partner.
His one-day career looked to be heading for a quiet conclusion until he was
recalled for the Commonwealth Bank Series, and he survived for one more
World Cup. Certainly, the competitive fires burned as patriotically as ever.
10 Tests: 789 runs @ 43.83
2 ODI: 103 runs @ 51.50
Matthew Hoggard England
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The sight of Hoggard
trudging back to his mark for one more over was one of the reassuring
constants of England's up-and-down year: no other bowler came close to
his tally of 14 Tests, and the side injury that kept him out at Sydney ended
a run of 40 games, a sequence undoubtedly helped by his relatively rare
appearances in the one-day side. As usual, he mixed thrift (2.98 an over)
with toil while maintaining his habit of silencing those who felt he was less
effective outside England: 30.5-13-57-6 at Nagpur, and 42-6-109-7 on
a heartbreaker at Adelaide. But it was his sheer consistency that continued
to astonish: only three times in 26 Test innings did he go wicketless, and
his new-ball inswing to the ever-growing army of left-handed openers
remained a captain's delight. By the end of the year he had moved ahead
of Andrew Caddick - who had once made the mistake of publicly
underestimating Hoggard - into seventh place in England's all-time list. Only
his batting regressed: his contributions as night-watchman fell away, and he
ended up as No. 11, even for England.
14 Tests: 121 runs @ 6.36; 51 wickets @ 30.58
2 ODI: 7 runs @ 7.00; no wicket for 118
Mike Hussey Australia
So you thought they might work him out, did you? Hussey's second
year proved just as productive as his first. If the nickname "Mr Cricket"
plumbed new depths of obviousness, it
was hard to think of an apter alternative.
Underpinned by an irrepressible
cover-drive and a decisive leave-alone,
his batting oozed dedication and inevitability.
Even the only discernible
weakness - he was out between 73 and
91 five times - was one most batsmen
would crave, and by the end of the Ashes
Hussey had made the No. 4 slot his
own. His one-day batting continued to
astound. Of his eight not-outs in 22
innings, seven came in Australian wins
and the other - a century against West
Indies in the DLF Cup - took place
when Australia batted first. Was this the most unforgiving batsman to bowl
at since Bradman? At the end of the year, career averages of nearly 80 in
Tests and 77 in one-day internationals suggested it was a reasonable question.
10 Tests: 965 runs @ 80.41; no wicket for 23
27 ODI: 784 runs @ 56.00; 1 wicket @ 63.00
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Inzamam-ul-Haq Pakistan
As Inzamam approached the twilight, the runs refused to flow as they once
did, but then not even a triple-century against India would have overshadowed his role in the Oval fiasco. He was either decried as an agitator or hailed
as a national hero for his protest against the penalty imposed for alleged
ball-tampering. Almost incidentally, Inzamam's batting was below par. He
hit 119 in the Faisalabad bore-draw against India and a pair of fifties at
Lord's, but then went nine Test innings without a half-century - his worst
sequence for eight years - before making an unbeaten 58 against West Indies
at Karachi. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that, at 36, his powers were
on the wane.
11 Tests: 563 runs @ 37.53
19 ODI: 450 runs @ 34.61
Sanath Jayasuriya Sri Lanka
Jayasuriya contravened all norms of ageing: at 37, he was more free-spirited
than ever. Nobody who scored 300 one-day runs got near his blistering
strike-rate of 107, and four of his five centuries came at comfortably more
than a run a ball. The highlight was an astonishing 99-ball 152 at Headingley
to seal a whitewash of England. But Jayasuriya's hammer was fickle in Tests,
where he struggled badly after reversing his decision to retire in April: he
made just one fifty in seven Tests, a raucous 73 in the narrow win over
South Africa in Colombo.
7 Tests: 211 runs @ 17.58; 4 wickets @ 66.25
26 ODI: 1,153 runs @ 48.04; 16 wickets @ 40.06
Mahela Jayawardene Sri Lanka
Small, slight, and softly spoken, Jayawardene might have been the least
likely assassin in world cricket, but this was a triumphant year, both as a
batsman and a captain. Although there were eight single-figure scores in 20
innings, including four ducks, it was the high points that made the headlines.
First, he helped save the Lord's Test with elegant innings of 61 and 119.
Then he took two sparkling hundreds off England's ailing one-day attack.
But the zenith came with his chanceless 374 - the fourth-highest individual
Test score - against South Africa at Colombo's SSC, where he added 624
with Kumar Sangakkara, a world record for any wicket in first-class cricket.
It went beyond the realms of career-defining and confirmed his status as
one of the three best batsmen in Sri Lanka's history, along with Jayasuriya
and Aravinda de Silva. His one-day aggregate was bettered only by
Sangakkara and Gayle, while his captaincy stocks rose too, thanks to unlikely
series draws in England and New Zealand, plus a home win against South
Africa. Jayawardene's success story was one of the most popular in world
cricket.
11 Tests: 983 runs @ 51.73
36 ODI: 1,185 runs @ 40.86; no wicket for 15
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Jacques Kallis South Africa
Run-gathering and milestone-passing had long been a fact of life, but so
too had the feeling that Kallis's fortunes were not always bound up with
that of his team. Some of his gutsiest batting came during the hammerings by Australia, but his statistically eye-catching return of 111 and 50 not out
at Sydney was tempered by the fact that he took three hours over his second
innings at a time when quick runs were required. Elbow surgery ruled him
out of the ill-fated trip to Sri Lanka, but personal ambition and team success
did coincide against New Zealand, when Kallis became the second player,
after Garfield Sobers, to achieve the Test double of 8,000 runs and 200
wickets. His bowling was steady - he averaged 12 overs per Test innings -
but good enough for him to stay top of the ICC's all-rounder rankings, and
he briefly took over the captaincy twice. As usual, though, you wondered
whether fourth gear would ever be located.
8 Tests: 620 runs @ 44.28; 15 wickets @ 32.73
14 ODI: 373 runs @ 31.08; 17 wickets @ 23.58
Kamran Akmal Pakistan
He was not the first keeper to look bad on his maiden tour of England, but
it seemed fairer to discern Akmal's real worth in his performances at home
to India at the start of the year. He began with an 81-ball century at Lahore,
at the time the fastest by a wicketkeeper in Tests, then made 78 after being
drafted in as an emergency opener at Faisalabad. But his all-wicket potential
was displayed most thrillingly in the decider, when he made 113 from
No. 8 after Pakistan had slid to 39 for six on an atypically green firstmorning
pitch at Karachi. They ended up winning too, with Akmal holding
on to six catches. He moved up and down the one-day order without finding
a home, but that was a sign of Pakistan's desire to accommodate him as
much as anything.
12 Tests: 606 runs @ 40.40; 37 catches, 5 stumpings
23 ODI: 340 runs @ 20.00; 22 catches, 3 stumpings
Anil Kumble India
More than ever, Kumble's unyieldingly accurate top-spinners and leg-breaks
stood four-square with Dravid's batting as the foundations of an erratic
Indian team. Only Muralitharan and Ntini took more Test wickets, and no
one came close to his 633 overs. At 35, he could still be relied upon to
exploit favourable conditions: nine wickets at Mohali saw off England, and
his six-for in Jamaica inspired India's historic win over West Indies. In the
first of those games, he became the fifth bowler to pass 500 Test wickets;
in the second, he inched past 2,000 runs. It was a double previously achieved
only by Warne. Kumble's innate modesty somehow precluded fanfare, but
he was still bowling with the guile of an all-time great.
12 Tests: 306 runs @ 19.12; 57 wickets @ 33.50
3 ODI: 3 runs @ 1.00; 2 wickets @ 49.50
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Brian Lara West Indies
For much of a year in which West Indies failed to win a single Test, Lara
could not even sugar the pill with his customary bouts of personal glory.
He averaged 18 in New Zealand, 26 at home to India - lower than any of
West Indies' recognised batsmen in that series - and even threatened to cut short his third stint as captain on the grounds that he was not getting the
team he wanted. But 122 at Lahore and 216 at Multan, leading to a series
average of nearly 90, restored the status quo, and, at 37, Lara finished the
year only 47 runs shy of 12,000 in Tests. His appetite was all the more
remarkable for the fact that he had now lost 63 Tests (out of 131), comfortably
a world record, and had scored 5,316 runs in defeat, more than 2,000 clear
of the next man, his team-mate Chanderpaul. During the Indian series he
complained that his reputation as captain was being "dragged down". As a
batsman, it was still sometimes a different matter.
10 Tests: 749 runs @ 41.61
28 ODI: 660 runs @ 31.42
Brett Lee Australia
It was a typical Lee year: at times he bowled beautifully, at times he went
round the park, and the chips fell, as they always do, on an average just the
wrong side of 30. Often that felt like an inevitable consequence of his specific
role - shock bowlers will always have the occasional shocker - but at other
times there was frustration that he had not made significant progress. Or
indeed any: his Test average for the year was just 0.01 greater than in 2005,
but the finer points suggested a different, more cautious bowler. Lee's strike-rate
worsened, but his economy-rate improved. He still had the appetite for
destruction, however, and spreadeagled South Africa's lower order at Durban.
Then, after taking a while to rev up in the Ashes, he took 12 wickets in the
final two Tests and looked devastating. It was hard to believe that, with his
cherubic features and insatiable enthusiasm, Lee was now the wrong side
of 30 himself.
10 Tests: 209 runs @ 26.12; 37 wickets @ 32.37
26 ODI: 170 runs @ 18.88; 44 wickets @ 24.88
Darren Lehmann South Australia and Yorkshire
A beer, a fag and a century were all Lehmann usually needed to keep happy,
and they were in regular supply in 2006. Even in his dotage he was one of
the surest things around, averaging 48.82 in the Pura Cup at either end of
the year and 77.54 in the Championship for Yorkshire in between. In his
final innings for the county he made the highest-ever score at Headingley,
339, and was two short of Yorkshire's all-time record. With his protruding
belly and naive behaviour - he got into trouble for comments after South
Australia's ING Cup final defeat and for gestures to Lancashire fans -
Lehmann felt like the last of a dying breed. But his time wasn't up just yet.
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Glenn McGrath Australia
McGrath's final year as a Test cricketer was dominated by the break he took
to be with his wife, Jane, who was recovering from her third bout of cancer,
and by the Ashes, where he was below his best but still good enough to
take eight more wickets than the best Englishman, Hoggard. His decision
to miss the tours of South Africa and Bangladesh meant he approached
Australia's one-day missions in Malaysia and at the Champions Trophy with renewed vigour, and he was as unhittable as ever. His one-day economy rate
of 3.38 was bettered among regulars only by Pollock, and his Champions
Trophy semi-final spell against New Zealand (10-2-22-3) was a reminder
of past glories. He laughed off the Dad's Army jibes with a six-for at
Brisbane, but concerns over his sore ankle resurfaced when he took none
for 107, his worst-ever Test analysis, in the first innings at Adelaide. After
that, it was a question of marshalling his resources: he failed to run through
England again, but never went for more than 2.66 an over, and he finished
his Test career congratulating himself on 563 wickets and - at last - a spot on
prediction of a whitewash. The World Cup would be his last hurrah.
5 Tests: 11 runs @ 3.66; 18 wickets @ 29.05
14 ODI: 7 runs @ 7.00; 15 wickets @ 25.93
Mohammad Asif Pakistan
A failed drug test, for which he was controversially acquitted, overshadowed
a year of thrilling achievement. Mohammad Asif was not a typical Pakistan
fast bowler - he relied on sharp seam
movement and accuracy (12 of his 30
Test wickets were bowled) rather than
reverse swing - but, in an age of
strapping seamers, he threatened to
overshadow them all: he was Harmison
with brain, McGrath with nip, Clark
with attitude. He bowled Pakistan to a
series victory over India with seven
wickets at Karachi, and then blew Sri
Lanka away at Kandy with startling
match figures of 11 for 71. Then, after
missing much of the series in England,
he returned to win the battle of the egos
against Pietersen with contemptuous,
knowing ease. When Asif returned to the team to begin 2007 with a flurry
of wickets in South Africa, it was possible to see him as a very special
talent.
5 Tests: 6 runs @ 1.20; 30 wickets @ 18.23
16 ODI: 13 runs @ 6.50; 17 wickets @ 32.23
Mohammad Yousuf Pakistan
Down to the first two figures of Mohammad Yousuf's batting average, this
was a Bradmanesque performance. His Test aggregate of 1,788 was a record
in a calendar year, beating Viv Richards's 30-year-old mark of 1,710, while
his nine hundreds - five of them 173 or more - beat the previous best of
seven. Aside from a blip in his one Test in Sri Lanka, no one could stop
him. He averaged 92 against India, 90 in England, and 133 against West
Indies, where he hit four centuries in five innings. With a bit more care, he
might even have reached 2,000: he was run out or stumped on five occasions.
But he worked hard to improve against the short ball and was far more responsible. He was modest with it, complaining after his 192 against West
Indies at Lahore that the flatness of pitches around the world had made
"batsmen too dominant". Bowlers everywhere were inclined to agree.
11 Tests: 1,788 runs @ 99.33
21 ODI: 627 runs @ 39.18
Muttiah Muralitharan Sri Lanka - Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World, 2006
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Makhaya Ntini South Africa
Ntini was indefatigable as ever, and it was a good job too. While he took
58 Test wickets - second only to Muralitharan - the 14 other South Africans
who bowled in 2006 managed a total of 111. As often as not, it was a oneman
show. He took successive ten-wicket hauls, in defeat to Australia at
Johannesburg and victory over New Zealand at Centurion, and his relentlessly
exacting use of the new ball did much to bring about a captain's-dream
strike-rate of 37. His one-day form was not far behind, and his analysis of
six for 22 to skittle Australia for 93 at Cape Town was one of the limited overs
performances of the year. Ntini's fitness and enthusiasm were South
Africa's shining beacon.
10 Tests: 117 runs @ 9.75; 58 wickets @ 21.60
15 ODI: 4 runs @ 4.00; 28 wickets @ 19.71
Monty Panesar England
It was a measure of Panesar's instant impact on the public that he was
celebrated as much for not being selected at Brisbane and Adelaide as he
had already become for shackling some
of the best players of spin in world
cricket. Observers drew easy parallels
with his idol Bishan Bedi, another
Sikh who bowled left-arm spin for
Northamptonshire, and it was true that
Panesar was similarly engrossed by his
craft. But he is a less adventurous
bowler, and the name Derek Underwood
cropped up too: not since his retirement
in 1982 had England produced such a
genuine spin-bowling article. The wicket
of Tendulkar on debut at Nagpur
provided the first example of his
trademark child-in-a-sweetshop celebrations,
and five-fors against Sri Lanka and Pakistan led Duncan Fletcher to
say there was no better finger-spinner in the world. Reservations about his batting and fielding remained, but there was widespread outrage when Ashley
Giles replaced him for the start of the Ashes. Two games later, Panesar was
back in, taking five wickets on a heady opening day at Perth, and even
earning a promotion to No. 10 on the back of a stroke-filled 16, followed
by the role of night-watchman at Sydney. A mauling at the hands of Adam
Gilchrist in the second innings at Perth was a reality check, even if it was
the first time any batsman had successfully got after him, but a giddy year
ended with selection for England's one-day squad in Australia.
12 Tests: 86 runs @ 10.75; 40 wickets @ 33.15
Kevin Pietersen England
There were moments in 2006 when it felt as if the only player who could
hold Pietersen back was Pietersen himself. At times, he made even the best
look ordinary. A left-handed sweep for six off Muralitharan at Birmingham
made him cricket's answer to snooker's Ronnie O'Sullivan - cocksure and
ambidextrous - while Warne's decision to bowl wide of leg stump for two
hours during his 158 at Adelaide was an admission that the Australians did
not know how else to stem the runs. By now Pietersen, singled out ahead
of the Ashes by Ponting as the game's next great phenomenon, had become
the thread by which England's fate hung. It was stellar stuff, and the only
frustration was that the stars did not align more often. His slog to get out
after making 135 against Pakistan at Leeds, as well as a doomed attempt to
take a single to Ponting at Adelaide, perhaps reflected the dangers of hubris.
His unfettered unorthodoxy made him a hit yet again in the one-day arena,
and his catching - a liability during the 2005 Ashes - moved into the realms
of dependability. But the feeling that he had more to give, heightened by
the bizarre decision to bat him at No. 5 for the first seven innings in Australia,
never went away, and accusations of selfishness could not be dismissed with
complete conviction. It could be lonely, Pietersen discovered Down Under,
being a genius.
14 Tests: 1,343 runs @ 53.72; 1 wicket @ 201.00
16 ODI: 612 runs @ 43.71; 1 wicket @ 69.00
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Shaun Pollock South Africa
Pollock had always been a model of consistency, but in 2006 his fortunes
fluctuated wildly. The year began badly, when he took one for 164 at Sydney
at more than four an over. He was manhandled in the return series, too, but
once Australia were out of the way he rediscovered the joys of frugality. In
four Tests at home to New Zealand and India, facing Pollock was like being
buried alive while moisture dripped on your forehead: he took 13 wickets
at an average of 17 and was almost unhittable. And his form in one-day
cricket - 32 wickets at 17 with an astonishing economy rate of 2.98 -
was peerless.
14 Tests:8 Tests: 391 runs @ 35.54; 19 wickets @ 40.10
21 ODI:379 runs @ 29.15; 32 wickets @ 17.34
Ricky Ponting Australia
The superlatives ran dry, for this was near perfection. With the bat, Ponting
was almost matchless, scoring seven hundreds in his first 14 innings of the
year and pulling like a demi-god. As a captain, he rated ten out of ten,
which happened to be Australia's Test record. As an individual, he righted
what he perceived as the wrong of 2005: Ponting would no longer be
remembered as the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes for 18 years,
but as the first to preside over an Ashes whitewash for 86. The personal
pressure of having to beat England made his relentlessness with the bat all
the more astonishing. Twice he took a pair of hundreds in a Test against
South Africa, and his exacting standards were reflected in a slow trudge to
the Brisbane dressing-room after he had fallen for 196 in the Ashes opener.
After his 142 in the next game at Adelaide, his career average topped a
vertiginous 60, which was the sign of an all-time great. Steve Waugh called
him Australia's best behind Bradman, and few argued. After all, not one
Test bowler managed to hit his stumps all year. So it was most unAustralian
that his 164 off 105 balls in the manic Johannesburg one-dayer should not
produce a win. But for Ponting, 2006 was all about regaining the Ashes.
With the blunders of 2005 behind him, his reputation emerged enhanced.
Icing on the cake did not come any sweeter.
10 Tests: 1,333 runs @ 88.86; no wicket for seven
23 ODI: 798 runs @ 36.27
Ashwell Prince South Africa
To sum up Prince's 2006 as the year in which he became South Africa's
first non-white captain is to give his batting less credit than it deserved.
While the captaincy was undoubtedly an
honour and a hugely symbolic moment
in the country's ongoing battle with its
past, it was Prince's elevation to the
ranks of middle-order bulwark - he
averaged three more than Kallis - that
really caught the eye. Warne made life
uncomfortable early on, but 119 at
Sydney and 93 at Johannesburg, both
against Australia, hinted at his gutsy,
left-handed application, and after that he
hardly failed: a hundred in the victory
over India at Durban was the highlight.
He was captain, as a stand-in for the
injured Smith, for the two-Test trip to
Sri Lanka, where - with Kallis missing
too - it was an uphill task, despite his
own pair of half-centuries. Prince was rarely thrilling to watch but, after a
faltering introduction to international cricket in 2002, the feeling this time
was that he was here to stay.
11 Tests: 905 runs @ 47.63; 1 wicket @ 9.00
9 ODI: 160 runs @ 26.66
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Kumar Sangakkara Sri Lanka
With Gilchrist on the wane, Sangakkara was arguably the world's premier
batsman-wicketkeeper. He was irrefutably the most consistent. Nobody
scored more than his 2,609 runs in all internationals, or reached 50 as often
(21 times in 55 innings). The highlight, inevitably, was a career-best 287
against South Africa in Colombo, when he and Jayawardene added a worldrecord
624. But arguably two innings in New Zealand at the end of the year
were better: an unbeaten 100 out of 170 at Christchurch, and a staggeringly
accomplished 156 not out in a total of 268 at Wellington a week later to
set up a series-levelling win.
11 Tests: 1,242 runs @ 69.00; 18 catches as keeper, 2 stumpings
36 ODI: 1,333 runs @ 44.43; 37 catches, 12 stumpings
Sreesanth India
Competition for places in the Indian fast-bowling pantheon has never been
particularly fierce, but Sreesanth showed enough promise to suggest that,
one day, he might take a seat alongside Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath. In
his first year as a Test player his control, interrogatory seam movement and
chippy attitude troubled many a good batsman: he inflicted a pair on Chris
Gayle in the series decider in Jamaica, and then took eight for 99 during
an even more improbable victory, over South Africa at Johannesburg. India
had the bad cop of their new bowling pair; if they found a good cop to go
with him they could be really dangerous.
7 Tests: 119 runs @ 17.00; 35 wickets @ 24.37
18 ODI: 6 runs @ 1.50; 25 wickets @ 32.08
Andrew Strauss England
With both Vaughan and, for much of the time, Trescothick absent, Strauss
became the elder statesman of England's batting line-up. Yet, though he
passed 1,000 Test runs for the first time, it was not an especially successful
year. The high point came against Pakistan, when Strauss captained England
to a forfeit-assisted 3-0 victory and scored 444 runs at 63, but in ten other
Tests he averaged just 31. He lost the captaincy to the fit-again Flintoff for
the Ashes, and then endured a lost series: Strauss's top score in five Tests
was just 50, even though he looked in excellent nick throughout. Three
umpiring howlers didn't help, but nor did a penchant for absent-mindedness
that had surfaced in India earlier in the year. He redeemed that series with
an outstanding 128 in the last-Test victory at Mumbai, but overall Strauss
was dismissed between 11 and 48 in 17 of his 26 innings. It was a frustrating
blot on an otherwise immaculate copybook.
14 Tests: 1,031 runs @ 39.65
20 ODI: 592 runs @ 31.15
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Andrew Symonds Australia
The wild thing of Australian cricket finally found deliverance. Nobody
seemed convinced that Symonds could cut it at Test level, least of all the
man himself. But against England at Melbourne, he changed the habit of a lifetime and started exercising shot selection, moving from a maiden Test
century to a relatively sober 156. There had been no such doubts about
Symonds's worth at one-day level. He was the complete package: a
devastating biffer - who hit an epic 151 in the VB Series against Sri Lanka
- a versatile and underestimated bowler, and a fielder of frightening
athleticism and intensity.
6 Tests: 297 runs @ 37.12; 4 wickets @ 59.00
24 ODI: 761 runs @ 42.27; 20 wickets @ 36.80
Jerome Taylor West Indies
West Indies had been holding out for
a fast-bowling hero throughout this
millennium, and Taylor, returning after
more than two years' absence, became
the man most likely. Unlike his peers,
he seemed more interested in swing than
bling, and his diligent adherence to the
basics, as well as the ability to hoop the
ball at the last moment, set him apart.
There was a famous hat-trick against
Australia in the Champions Trophy,
where he was the top wicket-taker, nine
wickets against India on a dicey Sabina
Park pitch and, most admirably of all,
some sustained excellence during a highscoring
series in Pakistan.
7 Tests: 87 runs @ 8.70; 28 wickets @ 28.67
24 ODI: 25 runs @ 6.25; 39 wickets @ 24.51
Sachin Tendulkar India
Tendulkar's mortality was not so much intimated as screamed. Whether it
was because of age or rust after a succession of injuries was a moot point;
that he was not the player of old was irrefutable. He made just one halfcentury
in eight Tests, and was booed by the crowd during an Indian-record
132nd Test appearance, against England at his home ground, Mumbai. He
could still work the hairs on the back of the neck like nobody else, but
those moments were few and further between. Even so, nobody in their right
mind looked forward to bowling to him.
8 Tests: 267 runs @ 24.27; no wicket for 67
16 ODI: 628 runs @ 44.85; 3 wickets @ 72.00
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Shane Warne Australia
It was no great surprise that Warne ended his Test career in magnificent
fashion, with an Ashes whitewash and a 700th Test wicket in front of his
home crowd at the MCG. With his powers waning ever so slightly, Warne
had spent much of the year in the mode of rogue psychiatrist - inviting
opponents on to his couch and persecuting them, encouraging them to torture themselves with imaginary demons. Even besieged umpires, who had to
contend with incessant appeals of wildly varying credibility, could not escape
his spell. Overall, his wickets cost more than 30 each for the first time since
2001 but, as always, Warne won the really big points: his legendary lastday
performance at Adelaide, when his presence numbed England into a
fatal strokelessness, turned a tight Ashes series into a walkover. His six for
86 on the final day at Durban, when he took Australia to a thrilling againstthe-
clock victory, was almost as good. The coup de grâce came on the first
day of his beloved Boxing Day Test, when he ran through England with five
for 39, including his 700th wicket (Strauss). A week later, he walked into
retirement, putting a lump in the throats of even those Englishmen whose
dreams he had wrecked for a decade and a half. Cricket would never see
his like again.
10 Tests: 218 runs @ 21.80; 49 wickets @ 30.20
Daniel Vettori New Zealand
If finger-spin was a dying art, then Vettori was pretty good at mouth-to-mouth.
And wicket-to-wicket. His accurate, unrelenting left-arm spin was a
real threat on wearing pitches: his strike-rate for the year halved to 49 in
the second innings, and he took the second seven-for of his Test career
against Sri Lanka at Wellington. He was also the highest-ranked spinner in
the ICC's one-day rankings. That was not all he was good for: there was
no more reliable lower-order batsman around, and Vettori stood and delivered
four fifties in 11 Test innings. In a mixed year for New Zealand, he was a
reassuring constant.
8 Tests: 387 runs @ 35.18; 21 wickets @ 28.57
13 ODI: 221 runs @ 31.57; 12 wickets @ 41.66
Younis Khan Pakistan
The achievements of the run-machine Mohammad Yousuf dwarfed allcomers,
but Younis Khan too was robotically productive: he averaged over
50 in Tests for the third year in a row. He began the year explosively, with
199 and 194 against India - he now averaged 106 against them in Tests -
before leading Pakistan to a famous series victory over them in the final
Test. A glorious 173 at Leeds confirmed his all-weather credentials, and his
success at No. 3 was even more impressive given the fragility of Pakistan's
ever-changing opening partnership. The only blemish came off the field,
when Younis accepted the captaincy, resigned and then took it again in a
farcical build-up to the Champions Trophy. On the field, there was no such
indecision.
11 Tests: 1,179 runs @ 65.50; no wicket for five
20 ODI: 615 runs @ 38.43; no wicket for two
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