2014- The Sequel: England in 2015.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Good to read your choices bfl. I've only picked from Tests, but there is quite a bit of crossover.

[bigfluffylemon]

Good to read your choices bfl. I've only picked from Tests, but there is quite a bit of crossover.

Thanks. I'm interested to see your choices too.

For my choices, I gave particular weight to the match situation as well as the quality of the batting/bowling - did the performance have a significant impact on the outcome of the game, was it under pressure, etc. There were plenty of strong performances that didn't make the cut because ultimately they didn't have much of an impact on the match, or were not delivered under as much pressure. Root's century at Nottingham, for example, while a good innings, was delivered in the context of the opposition all out for 60 - the match was already as good as won and the Australian bowlers were totally demoralised.

Likewise I rate Watling's innings at Leeds higher than Williamson's at Lord's, even though Williamson scored more runs, as Watling's innings took New Zealand from a wobbling 141 lead in the second innings with 4 wickets down, to a match-winning total, and quickly enough to give NZ time to bowl England out.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I've marked down runs and wickets taken in defeats. Though some think they are made in adversity and so count more... I think I saw Root being criticised for mainly scoring in wins. But surely, good performances in defeats haven't been sufficient to take control of the game. Root's best innings have been when the opposition have been on top, and he's put pressure back on them, and taken the initiative.

Root's at TB maybe had value given how much others struggled.

[bigfluffylemon]

I've marked down runs and wickets taken in defeats. Though some think they are made in adversity and so count more... I think I saw Root being criticised for mainly scoring in wins. But surely, good performances in defeats haven't been sufficient to take control of the game. Root's best innings have been when the opposition have been on top, and he's put pressure back on them, and taken the initiative.

Root's at TB maybe had value given how much others struggled.

To be sure it had value. It would be in my top 10 of the year, just didn't make it in to my top 5. The Cardiff one wins out for me because he came in at 30ish-3 and turned the innings, and the match around.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England opposition team of the year.

2. Mohammad Hafeez.

380 runs at 63.3. One hundred and two fifties.

Hafeez's Test career is nearly as old as the century, debuting in 2002. He played his first Test against England in 2006, (his only Test in the UK) in the infamous Oval Test of 2006, scoring 95, but overshadowed by controversy. With his dodgy bowling action, he hadn't quite lived out his career in the eye of the storm of Pakistani cricket. But he wasn't a player I had much of an opinion on. A Pakistani batter who scores heavily in UAE and Asia generally, with diminishing returns the further he travels, he hid in plain sight. I noticed he had performed well in 2014-15, mostly in low key series, and at 'home'. But, now thirty-five, a conspicuous passion burned through him in this year's series against England, peaking in his hugely impressive, match winning 151 at Sharjah.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England's best innings of the year.

5. Adil Rashid, 61 in Dubai.

Rashid had attracted attention with his senseless, second ball waft to donate his wicket in the first innings in Dubai. In the second innings, England had been set 491 runs to win the game, or (given batting frailties) an almost equally unlikely day and a half to survive for the draw. Cook and Moeen were out in the first ten overs, and when Rashid walked out to bat before lunch on day five, the game was up. Root, Bairstow, Buttler and Stokes, the cream of young England batting, went in a spell of twenty overs. The batting collapse in the face of daunting odds has been an England characteristic this year. Yet Rashid, with Stuart Broad, and particularly Mark Wood, resisted. He batted for four hours, until, with James Anderson at the crease, he drove a catch off Yasir Shah into the covers, with six overs remaining. An end that provoked a lot of comment, but, the conclusion of a most unexpectedly determined knock. So nearly the hero.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England's best bowling of the year.

5. Steve Finn, 2-38 and 6-79 at Edgbaston.

This was Finn's return to the England side for the first time since his unconvincing performance in the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge two years earlier. And with many desperate times in between. After England responded unconvincingly to Australia's first morning 136, Finn wiped out the Australian middle order in the second innings, taking out batters 3-8, mostly with cross batted shots played at short balls. In a spell around tea on the second day, Finn took four top order wickets for 19 (from wicket to wicket). He looked dangerous bowling a fuller length too, strikingly in the first innings when he removed Smith and Clarke. Finn still hasn't the pace of his peak, and was quiet at Trent Bridge and the Oval, and is injured again. His future feels uncertain, but his sudden impact in Birmingham was one of the stories of the summer.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Best innings against England of the year.

5. Kane Williamson, 132 at Lord's.

2015 might well have been the year of Kane Williamson, absolutely cashing in on his long predicted promise in Tests and ODIs. At Lord's he saw New Zealand to a first innings lead of 134... from which they lost. But Williamson looks a consummate Test batter, playing the correct shot to the appropriate ball, building an innings with care, at the necessary tempo. It took a long time for me to accept the hype, but I'm sold now. Probably, the best around... partly because he looks so good. It takes a long time for a Kiwi to accumulate stats, but in the last year, his last ten matches, he has tons in UAE (192), Wellington (242*), Lord's, Brisbane and Perth, at an average of 78.

Best bowling against England of the year.

5. Trent Boult, 4-79 and 5-85 at Lord's.

If it didn't turn out to be the year of Trent Boult, the left-arm pace bowler that doesn't sledge, he as easily matched his English counterparts in their early summer conditions as he surpassed them in New Zealand. It is the perennial Kiwi condition to be undercooked going into Test series, and Boult has suffered injuries too; he carries the New Zealand bowling to a point of duress that would make Jimmy Anderson blanch. He absolutely worked out Gary Ballance here. He went past both edges, with six nicks, and three lbw/bowleds.

[bigfluffylemon]

Good posts, Arthur. Boult and Williamson's Lord's performances would have been in my test top 5, had I not chosen to include ODIs. Williamson was immense in the Australia series too - he looks like the absolute real deal, and given his young age I have no doubt he will have overtaken Martin Crowe as New Zealand's best-ever batsman and record holder for just about everything by the end of his career.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England opposition team of the year.

3. Steve Smith.

508 runs at 56. Two hundreds and a fifty.

Plus Cook's wicket at the Oval. In previous years, I likened Smith to the awkward, geeky kid in a Brat Pack film who suddenly starts to happen and gets the girl. Well, this year (after becoming Prom King at Baggy Green High) he left school and started a multi million internet start up. Although he received criticism for his scores in the extreme and unusual conditions in the Midlands, he was top run scorer in the Ashes and his two big scores in London pumped up the pressure that led to Australia's wins. He still ain't much to look at, with his shuffle across the stumps and his dead eyed deflections. But that's not really the point anymore. Now that he's so run rich.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Good posts, Arthur. Boult and Williamson's Lord's performances would have been in my test top 5, had I not chosen to include ODIs. Williamson was immense in the Australia series too - he looks like the absolute real deal, and given his young age I have no doubt he will have overtaken Martin Crowe as New Zealand's best-ever batsman and record holder for just about everything by the end of his career.

Cheers. I like a couple of your picks over mine, but I'm going to stick with what I had.

[sussexpob]

Good posts, Arthur. Boult and Williamson's Lord's performances would have been in my test top 5, had I not chosen to include ODIs. Williamson was immense in the Australia series too - he looks like the absolute real deal, and given his young age I have no doubt he will have overtaken Martin Crowe as New Zealand's best-ever batsman and record holder for just about everything by the end of his career.

Until he scored on those sub-standard batting paradise pitches against Australia, which lots of people plundered runs on, he maintains a very underwhelming average against all major teams (under 40 vs South Africa, India, Pakistan, England)..... Before this he only had a very good average vs Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who he averages 90 odd vs.... and a good series vs Windies. And when he made his 250* vs Sri Lanka, I think Sangakarra matched it pretty easily considering the conditions of the pitch.

I think he has a lot to prove before Williamson has shown anything other than a player keen at taking advantage of sub standard test attacks, or scoring in the most friendly of conditions consistently.

[sussexpob]

I mean a good indication is, in the Lords innings in question, I think he batted the majority of that innings against England's 3-5th bowlers. He certainly took apart the Durham boys and Ali by memory, and then looked decidedly shaky against Broad and Anderson

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'll check later about his ton at Lord's.

Your point about some easy runs in his record is why I didn't join in on the hype until fairly recently, and made the points you make in discussion with other posters (though he had a handy ton in SA even back them). But in the last two years, he has scored runs consistently against anyone. Sadly, he doesn't get to play too many games.

[sussexpob]

I'll check later about his ton at Lord's.

Your point about some easy runs in his record is why I didn't join in on the hype until fairly recently, and made the points you make in discussion with other posters (though he had a handy ton in SA even back them). But in the last two years, he has scored runs consistently against anyone. Sadly, he doesn't get to play too many games.

97 of the 132 came from Ali/Stokes/Root and Wood..... so two part-timers, a guy averaging 40 with the ball in a lot of tests, and a bloke on debut. Commentary seems to indicate he edged short of slip to Broad very early on (but Cook took Broad off and let him settle into England's second string)... he was also dropped twice.