Part 3 of my 2011 retrospectives takes me to Twenty20. Not my favourite format but undeniably entertaining and still expanding across the world like a virus. Hopefully a benign one but I still fear it wil ultimately smother the long-standing formats which have served cricket so well for more than a century. The T20 game has served to demonstrate how the very best players can succeed in any type of cricket (Tendulkar, Kallis, Sangakkara, both Husseys) while also giving others a new route to world-class status. The growth of T20 from the original English competition to IPL, Champions League, Big Bash and others has led to some stars performing in more T20s than List As and first-class matches combined. In 2011 alone, Ryan Ten Doeschate appeared in 40 fixtures across four continents. However, he didn't make my team the year. Here are those who did.
The opening batsmen pick themselves. Chris Gayle scored 1497 runs in only 31 games, including four centuries, at an incredible strike rate just shy of 175. He's also had three ducks but fail to snare him in the first over and he'll kill you! He even averages almost four sixes per innings and can also bowl some economic spells, too. Almost the perfect short-form cricketer, and he knows it! David Warner has finally broken into the Aussie Test team after some fine Sheffield Shield performances but he remains the only man other than Gayle to pass 1000 T20 runs in the calendar year.
Virat Kohli was the biggest scoring ODI batsman of the year and he makes my team as number three in the T20 game. While representing only Indian national or IPL franchise sides, he still aggregated 941 runs in 28 games. Like most non-openers, he didn't reach three figures but is a clever innings-builder and a brilliant fielder, too, worth many runs for his side even when not at the crease. Brendan McCullum should be high in the order while playing as wicketkeeper, too. More than 700 runs in only 21 matches during 2011 maintains his reputation as one of the world's top exponents of T20 cricket at national and domestic levels. At 28, Shaun Marsh should be more than just a rising star of Aussie cricket but, like Warner, deserves a longer run at the top level. In the T20 game in the past year, he produced 860 runs at a strike rate just shy of 150, missing out on a Big Bash century just the other week.
The Hussey brothers are both excellent one-day players. While David has scored more runs in 2011, I'd plump for his older sibling Mike Hussey for my team, alongside Victorian all-rounder Andrew McDonald, who for Leicestershire was one of the stars of England's domestic competition.
For my frontline attack I'll include two fast bowlers, Lasith Malinga and Alfonso Thomas. The Sri Lankan has an uncanny knack of delivering unplayable yorkers which either produce dot balls or, even better, wickets. He has taken more wickets (41) at one of the lowest averages (13) and strike rates (5.9) than anyone else in the game during 2011. An automatic choice. 'The Fons' has been a great performer for Somerset and a brilliant 'death bowler' which has propelled the county into one of the finest teams on the planet. He was one of Pune Warriors' best imports, too.
In addition to Gayle and Hussey, Saeed Ajmal and Ravi Ashwin complete my spin contingent. Ajmal thus becomes the only man in all three of my 2011 Elevens. He must now be a target for the 2012 IPL franchises, conceding fewer than 6 an over and boasting an average of just 12 runs per wicket. Ashwin was one of the stars of IPL 2011, often opening the bowling to great effect and he nudges out Shakib al Hasan, Mishra and Briggs.
So my team contains no Pollard (much over-hyped in my view), Shahid Afridi or Shane Watson, but Dilshan, Nannes, Pathan and Naved ul Hasan came close to selection. Here is a reminder:-
Gayle (WI), Warner (Aust), Kohli (Ind), McCullum (NZ, +), Marsh (Aust), M Hussey (Aust *), McDonald (Aust), Thomas (SA), Ashwin (Ind), Malinga (SL), Saeed Ajmal (Pak).
