Okay, I'm a little late on the uptake here, but let's go:
Batting Category
Best Batsman
Steven Smith - Although Kohli's numbers are highly impressive, and he performed as always in all three formats, Smith was the batsman who most typified what Test cricket is all about. Where Kohli's strike rate of 76 indicated his tendency to bully weak attacks when he got in, Smith's strike rate of 50 indicated a steadfast refusal to get out, no matter what was bowled at him. Personally, I find that more admirable. Smith and Kohli are light years ahead of anyone else though.
Best Youngster (23 and under)
Babar Azam - Shai Hope had an excellent year, but he turned 24 and nobody else particularly stood out in Test cricket. In white-ball cricket though, there was a clear stand-out performer: Babar Azam's four ODI hundreds saw him make the number three spot in the ODI side his own. Hopefully he will translate those performances into Test cricket as well, because his approach is perfectly suited to it.
Most Improved Batsman
Shai Hope - From a batsman who previously had averaged
17.15 with a best of 41, this year's breakout performances were more than slightly surprising. Next year he will be striving for more consistency, given that his two stand-out innings occurred in the same match, but it was good to see that he doesn't suffer from James Vince syndrome (a beautiful cover drive and no runs).
Best Innings
Marcus Stoinis - One of the most tragic things about cricket in 2017 was that neither the best rearguard in ODI cricket (this one, which saw Stoinis take Australia from 67 for six to within touching distance of their 287 target) nor the best rearguard in Test cricket (where Roston Chase was
let down horribly by Shannon Gabriel) ended successfully for their respective protagonist.
Failure of the year
The number three position - It's not just a James Vince problem, it's England picking players who patently are
not Test match number threes to do that job. In my opinion, there are two kinds of batsmen who can bat at three: specialists, like Ricky Ponting, or a third opener, like Michael Vaughan. Ballance, Westley and Vince were none of the above.
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Bowling Category
Best Bowler
Kagiso Rabada - Rabada gets the nod here because of his excellence across both Test and ODI formats for South Africa. There's not a huge amount to add here really though, other than I
really hope his workload doesn't break him although he has a natural enough action that he might actually be okay.
Best Youngster (23 and under)
Rashid Khan - Although Rabada is also eligible for this one, Rashid gets the nod here because of how much he could go on to achieve. His international stats were ludicrous, as is the fact that he's gone to the Big Bash and played seven games without once conceding as many as a run a ball. When Afghanistan start playing Tests, it will be interesting to see just how well he steps up to that challenge.
Most Improved Bowler
Nathan Lyon - He nearly doubled his tally of Test five-wicket hauls this year, taking more wickets than anyone else at an average of only 23.55 compared to his pre-2017 figure of 33.87. He bowled with more control, more aggression, and less fuss than at any previous time in his career. This time next year, he will be Australia's fourth-highest Test wicket-taker, behind only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee. Can we call him a legend yet?
Best Innings
Steve O'Keefe - His twin spells of six for 35 made perfect use of a helpful surface by imparting
just enough spin as opposed to ripping the ball miles past the outside edge. For a very brief period, Australia arguably had the world's best spin attack, before O'Keefe got himself in hot water for being a bit of a bellend. 2018 is off to a shit start for him though - he broke his leg in a BBL game, but still walked off because he's 'ard.
Failure of the year
Jake Ball - He simply leaked runs like Trump's White House leaks bigotry all year in ODIs, and was so rewarded with a call-up for the Ashes. He then continued to leak runs, looked about as threatening as a rusty-spotted cat (Google it) and was axed for his clone, Craig Overton.
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Team Category:
Best Team
India - They won three-times as many matches as they lost this year, despite some truly eccentric selections from Kaptain Kohli (who has so far chosen 34 unique playing XIs for his 34 Tests as captain).
Most Improved Team
Afghanistan - They won far more series than they lost this year, even against opposition that ought to be stronger than they are. More impressive have been the performances of their under-19s though, who became Champions of Asia.
Decline of the year
Sri Lanka - Where India won three times more than they lost, Sri Lanka lost three times more than they won. And most of those wins were against teams that chose for various reasons not to select all of their best players.
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Miscellaneous
Best Tournament/Series
County Championship Division One - It really had everything: an unexpected, unfashionable and entirely compelling winners, and a final-day relegation battle that saw four relegation rivals separated by only two points.
Best match
Pakistan vs West Indies "WHY DID HE DO THAT?!" That Test had so many subplots as well with Pakistan's retiring legends getting the farewell they earned, but the actual cricket itself turned out to be just as compelling.
Most surprising/shocking incident
Possibly the fact that Steve Rhodes got caught out for suppressing a rape case. That was last year right?
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Team of the Year:
I have picked just one team which I believe will do well in all formats, in all conditions.
- Rohit Sharma
- David Warner
- Steven Smith
- Virat Kohli
- Joe Root
- Ben Stokes
- MS Dhoni
- Rashid Khan
- Kagiso Rabada
- Hasan Ali
- James Anderson
