Following my selection of Test and ODI teams of the Year, it's now time to pick out the players who proved to be the best and most consistent performers across 2013 in all forms of cricket. It's not just about the internationals; there have been some notable achievements by those knocking on the door of national selectors as well as those for whom that door is probably closed for good.
That was the situation thought to be facing Chris Rogers at the start of the year. A one-Test wonder for Australia but a solid run-scorer in first-class cricket, he had been made Middlesex captain for the summer. However, David Warner's attitude and form, together with the sudden change of coach during the tour of England, led to his reinstatement as opener at the ripe old age of 36. While he didn't exactly set the world alight, he restored some reliability to the top order and rounded off the year perfectly with an Ashes century at the MCG. In all, he made more than 2,500 first-class runs during 2013, a marvellous achievement.
Kaushal Silva was elevated to Sri Lanka's team for the last Test match of 2013 and his domestic record explains why. IN only sixteen previous first-class matches, he scored 1,753 runs at an average of almost 80, and nobody claimed more than his nine centuries all year. He is a wicket-keeper, too, so has been sidelined by the combination of Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene. Maybe not for too much longer.
IN addition to Rogers, two other 30-something Aussies batsmen made their presence felt in the county game this summer. Michael Klinger was the main bright spot for Gloucestershire and, taken together with his efforts for South Australia, he scored well over 1,000 runs in each of the first-class and List A formats. Michael Hogan also sprinkled some fairy dust onto Glamorgan wih his long-striding, high action seam bowling. This was followed by more success with Western Australia in the Shield, making him the only man to take more than 100 first-class wickets in 2013.
Graeme Onions once more out-bowled just about everyone else in county cricket yet was left out of the Ashes party presumably because he wasn't tall enough. Apparently, England like their drinks waiters to be at least six feet six, like Finn and Rankin, or ginger, like Bairstow, so the big Durham man was left to watch and laugh/cry as his elders and betters failed so miserably Down Under.
The West Indies are not best known for spinners, but while Sunil Narine continues to shine in T20, Shane Shillingford blitzed all and sundry for much of the year in first-class cricket. He claimed 88 wickets in all, at more than seven a match and an average of 16.37. That's phenomenal. Like most bowlers, he had to toil against India's talented array of batsmen and then in mid-December, not for the first time, his bowling action was adjudged to be illegal and requiring further remodelling. Time will tell whether he will be the same bowler again. Caribbean cricket can ill lose any reasonably talented cricketer these days.
Mohammad Hafeez is also past the age of 30 and has also had his critics. An opening batsman who can't score runs quickly enough and a spinner who can't take wickets. Yet somehow he was one of the most consistent all-rounders in limited-over cricket in 2013. IN 30 ODIs he accumulated 1,300 runs at a strike rate comparable with Amla and Dilshan and also contributed more than 600 T20 runs in all competitions. His spin option brought him 22 T20 wickets, too, at an excellent economy rate of 6.46 an over.
In addition to the players above, of course the top international stars of the year have already been mentioned in my previous blogs but they deserve a repeat mention in my review of the overall players of 2013. AB De Villiers is caurrently unrivalled as a batsman in all forms of cricket. Not only does he score shedloads of runs but he does so at a rate which puts most contemporaries to shame. His SR of 154 in all T20 games out-guns even Gayle, Pollard, Warner and Ten Doeschate. Add in his wicket-keeping and one-day captaincy duties and AB must be the outstanding all-round cricketer in the world game.
His South Africa team-mate, Dale Steyn, likewise must be the top bowler for his wickets, strike and economy rates spanning the formats in 2013. Final credits go to the 25 year-old Indian batting duo of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. The former has been one of the foremost one-day batsmen and fielders of recent years and, if his exploits in the recent first Test in South Africa are anything to go by, he seems to be adding patience and sensible decision-making to his repertoire. Pujara was the only man apart from Rogers to score more than 2000 first-class runs, and did so without county cricket. Unencumbered by T20 fripperies, his record since the start of October includes a triple, double and three other hundreds in only twelve innings. His FC average for the year is just shy of 100. I hope he goes on to consolidate his position as India's Test number three in 2014.
A happy New Year to them and all readers, too!
