Moments of 2009

Enjoying Christmas is about taking pleasure in the small rituals: the things we do simply because we have always done them. Maybe that means sitting down, or standing up, to watch the Queen's speech, maybe it's the particular pub you walk to on Boxing Day, or the church you attend on Christmas Eve. Maybe it's why you're having turkey again this year, even though you really thought it might be time to try goose. The stockings, the sherry, the stuffing, the stodgy pudding. And if you're a journalist, it's the end of year list: we do it because we've always done it.

Without further waffle then, here are the Spin's favourite moments and players of 2009. I've entirely abandoned the notion of trying to be comprehensive or objective, and instead opted to take an entirely arbitrary wander through my own memories of the year. It's a strictly personal selection. And in that spirit I've decided to give out a few prizes for the best responses, either on the blog or by email. My three favourite nominations for highlights of the year, in any category of your choosing, will each win a book, plucked from the pile on my desk, at the top of which are Spin magazine's 2009 annual, and Cricinfo's Guide to International Cricket 2009.

Innings of the year - Eoin Morgan vs Kent Sometimes it's all a question of timing. Not just for the batsman, but for the spectator too. Bigger scores were made this year, against better bowlers but nothing I saw gave more of a thrill than what happened at Canterbury on a damp day in May. Having slogged down on the early train from London, and trudged through the town to the ground from the train station, I was expecting an unremarkable day's play in the Friends Provident Trophy. Instead those present were treated to a masterclass of modern batting from one of the most audacious young talents in cricket.

Eoin Morgan made 161 in an innings so crazily inventive that it could have been conceived by Heath Robinson. It contained shots which no one had ever seen before. Not just starfish sweeps, switch-hits and uppercuts, but an entirely new concoction in which Morgan reversed his stance and set himself to sweep. The bowler saw what he was doing, and pushed the ball out wider towards the slips. Morgan clocked this, waited till the ball had passed him, and then flipped the bat down and around through 180 degrees to drive a single away to third man.

Shot of the year - Chris Gayle vs Australia at the Oval Something about playing Australia seems to bring out the best in Chris Gayle. And when Gayle is good, there's few better. Maligned and mocked through early part of the English season after his offhand comments about the future of Test cricket, Gayle set the World Twenty20 alight with his innings of 88 from 50 balls against Australia at the Oval. All Englishmen love seeing Australia lose, especially in an Ashes summer, and to see them humiliated is a greater pleasure still. Brett Lee followed a bouncer, which Gayle had hit out of the ground for six, with a cunning slower ball. Gayle moved his front foot aside and hit through the line over long-on, sending the ball high into the air. If this shot was heard around the world, it was only because of the almighty clatter it made when it landed. Sky measured it at 105m. "It's the first time I've hit it so far," Gayle reckoned afterwards.

Match of the year - England vs Australia at Cardiff Ideally, the game should be watched from a seat at the ground. Failing that, a sofa in front of the television will do. But my favourite day's play of this year though was followed over the radio. There is something especially magical about Test Match Special. It seems to make a tense game seem tighter still. On the fifth day at Cardiff, as Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar were playing out those fraught final 40 minutes, I was in the pub, sat around a small personal radio plugged into a tinny pair of portable speakers, listening, along with a group of complete strangers, to Jon Agnew's crackling description of the denouement. It was one of those moments when the country seems to stop. Walking the dog, washing the car, cooking the roast, all that could wait. The only thing anyone was interested in, whether they loved cricket or not, was whether England could bat out the match.

Blunder of the year - Ricky Ponting / Tim Nielsen On the morning of 20 August, Australia decided to leave Nathan Hauritz out of their team for the fifth Test on a pitch which, as every fool knew, was always going to spin. Graeme Swann took eight wickets in the match, Australia had to cobble together 52 overs from their three part-timers. "In hindsight, a specialist spinner would have been pretty handy out there," reflected Ricky Ponting afterwards. Well duh. This is an especially strong field and special mention should also go to John Dyson, for his unique interpretation of the Duckworth-Lewis method, and Kevin Pietersen, for the premeditated sweep against Hauritz that got him out in the first innings of the Ashes.

Bowler of the year - Graeme Swann Was there one? Top of the Test match tables is Mitchell Johnson, who has taken 57 wickets at 28.8 each so far. Worryingly, only one of the top 20 wicket-takers in Test matches managed to taken them at average of under 25 each, and that was Nuwan Kulasekara, who took exactly 20, enough only to place him 20th on the list. The biggest single problem facing cricket is the imbalance between bat and ball, a bias brought about through bigger bats, flatter pitches and the seeming impossibility of staying fit as a fast bowler in the modern game. Looking back on the year, I just don't feel that I have seen enough great quick bowling, and with Muttiah Muralitharan on the wane, there is no shoo-in contender for this prize any more. In the absence of any outstanding candidate, I'd plump for Swann, who bowled more deliveries in Test cricket than anyone except Johnson, and took 64 wickets at 29 each in all forms of the game. Not bad for a man who, two years ago, was seen by many, The Spin included, as just another county journeyman.

Batsman of the year - Tillekaratne Dilshan In 40 international matches this year, he scored 2,539 runs, over 150 more than anyone else. In 12 months he has scored four centuries against India, two against Bangladesh, two more against Pakistan, and one apiece off New Zealand and South Africa. He also had a 96* against West Indies. He has been prolific in Twenty20, Test matches and fifty-over cricket, and even coined his own shot. Tillakaratne Dilshan has been all but unstoppable, and as well as being the year's best batsman, must also be the game's most improved player.

And to finish, an XI of the year, picked for performances in all formats of the game and with a strong degree of personal prejudice.

Team of the Year: TM Dilshan, V Sehwag, MJ Clarke, AB de Villiers, AJ Strauss, MS Dhoni, SR Watson, DL Vettori, GP Swann, MJ Johnson, DW Steyn.

PlanetPakistan wrote:Best moment of the year: Pakistan winning the T20 world cup

Worst moment of the year(AND possibly the worst moment in the history of cricket): Attack on the S Lankan cricketers.

Shoeshine wrote:

PlanetPakistan wrote:Best moment of the year: Pakistan winning the T20 world cup

Worst moment of the year(AND possibly the worst moment in the history of cricket): Attack on the S Lankan cricketers.

The latter made the former the special event that it was.