Review of 2013

[StinkyBoHoon]

Just pretty much copy and pasted this from last years thread, we only have one more day of test cricket left in south africa so seems reasonable enough time to start this.

Batting Category
Best Batsman -
Best Youngster -
Most Improved Batsman -
Best Innings -
Failure of the year -

Bowling Category
Best Bowler -
Best Youngster -
Most Improved Bowler -
Best Innings -
Failure of the year -

Team Category
Best Team -
Most Improved Team -
Decline of the year -

Misc
Best Tournament/Series -
Best match -
Most surprising/shocking incident -

 

[bigred]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - A B de Villiers
Best Youngster - Rohit Sharma
Most Improved Batsman - Brad Haddin
Best Innings - Matt Prior ton to save the test in New Zealand
Failure of the year - Jonathan Trott

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Ryan Harris
Best Youngster - Trent Boult
Most Improved Bowler -Nathan Lyon
Best Innings - Mitchell Johnson in Brisbane
Failure of the year - Graeme Swann

Team Category
Best Team -South Africa
Most Improved Team -Australia
Decline of the year -England

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions Trophy (good format)
Best match - South Africa v India Jo'burg
Most surprising/shocking incident - Trott's illness

 

[Cricketman]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Virat Kohli (ODI), Michael Clarke (Test)
Best Youngster - Cheteshwar Pujara

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson... wow

Team Category
Best Team - tough call really. No team has stood out this year in tests. ODIs, India have done really well
Most Improved Team - I have been impressed by India's fight overseas this season

Worst teams: Australia were pretty freaking horrible in England, but England just might be worse in Australia.

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions Trophy
Best match - India v SA Joburg, Champions Trophy final
Most surprising/shocking incident - Dale Steyn, Philander not going for the win

 

[War]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - De Villiers in tests, Kohli in ODIs
Best Youngster - Pujara
Most Improved Batsman - Haddin in tests, Sharma in ODIs
Best Innings - Tie between Priors saving hundred in NZ & Dhoni's test double vs AUS
Failure of the year - ENG as a batting unit in tests, SRI youngsters Chandimal & Thirimane

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Steyn & Ajmal
Best Youngster - Trent Boult
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson & Mohammad Irfan
Best Innings - Johnson's 7/40 @ Adelaide, Steyn 6/8 @ Jo Burg
Failure of the year - West Indies selectors

Team Category
Best Team - S Africa in tests, India in ODIs
Most Improved Team - New Zealand
Decline of the year - England in tests, Windies in general after winnings the T20 world cup

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions Trophy
Best match - India vs S Africa @ Jo Burg
Most surprising/shocking incident - The Trott Incident, Swann retirement, Agar playing the 1st @ Ashes test in ENG, Shillingford's ban

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - A B Devilliers
Best Youngster - Joe Root
Most Improved Batsman - Virat Kohli
Best Innings - Brendan Taylor 171 v Bangladesh
Failure of the year - Brendon McCullum

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Mitchell Johnson
Best Youngster - Mohammed Shami
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson
Best Innings - Mitchell Johnson 7/40 against England at Adelaide
Failure of the year - Steven Finn

Team Category
Best Team - India
Most Improved Team - Australia
Decline of the year - West Indies

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - The Ashes in England
Best match - England v Australia at Lords test match
Most surprising/shocking incident - Stuart Broad not walking

 

[cricketaddict]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Virat Kohli (ODI) Michael Clarke (Test)
Best Youngster - Chesteshwar Pujara
Most Improved Batsman - Brendon McCullum
Best Innings - Virat Kohli's first inning vs South Africa
Failure of the year - Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann share it

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn
Best Youngster - Mohmmad Shami
Most Improved Bowler - Vernon Philander
Best Innings - Mitchell Johnson whole ashes
Failure of the year - Ishant Sharma

Team Category
Best Team - India (ODI) South Africa (Test)
Most Improved Team - India (Test) South Africa (ODI)
Decline of the year - England both formats

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions Trophy
Best match - India vs England Champions Trophy
Most surprising/shocking incident - South Africa dint press for win

 

[aditya123]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Che Pujara
Best Youngster - Joe Root
Most Improved Batsman - Virat Kohli
Best Innings - Clarke at Old Trafford, Kohli and Pujara vs SA at Jo`burg and Ab de Villiers' hundred at Jo`burg
Failure of the year - Brendon McCullum

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Ryan Harris and Mitch Johnson
Best Youngster - Mohammed Shami
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson
Best Spell - Mitchell Johnson 7/40 against England at Adelaide
Failure of the year - Ishant Sharma and James Anderson

Team Category
Best Team (ODI) - India
Best Team (Tests) - None!
Most Improved Team (Tests) - Australia and India
Decline of the year - West Indies

Misc
Best Tournament/Series (ODI) - ICC CT 2013
Best Tournament/Series (Tests) - Ashes 2013 in England
Best match (Test) - England v Australia at Lords, India vs SA at Jo`burg
Best match (ODI) - India v England CT Final, India v Pakistan at Delhi, SA vs Pakistan 2nd ODI in SA
Most surprising/shocking incident - Zimbabwe beating Pakistan in the 2nd Test, the homework saga

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Only two guys in contention for this imo. Pujara is quickly stating a case for being among the best in the world, an impressive stat is he already has 100s against every team he's played now. However, Ab de Villiers has been ruthless this year, he's been far an away south africa's best batsman this year and keeps them firmly on top of the rankings.
Best Youngster - I'm not picking pujara here because I picked him in this category last season and despite being fairly young he's been established for a while. instead I'm saying Steven Smith, he's brought stability to australia who were sorely needing players to stand up and actually merit selection. in lieu of staggering talent he brings an obnoxious defiance you also need to bear in mind australia had a punishing schedule of 9 away tests so his numbers would always be expected to be a little under-par. as an after-thought Mominul Haque looks a very good find for a bangladesh team who's batting unit is finally beginning to look like proper test class.
Most Improved Batsman - I think this is a tough one. David Warner looks like he may finally be coming good, he's been awesome in the ashes. murali vijay out did all expectations in south africa playing like a proper opener to see off the new ball. It would also be harsh to forget peter fulton who made a pretty decent return to test cricket.
Best Innings - a few candidates, du Plessis almost made history and Pujara hit an absolute masterclass in same match. I'm going with Dhawan hitting 187 against australia though. Made a win from absolutely nothing and made sure india had their full revenge.
Failure of the year - bit harsh but there's no denying Kallis has been pretty rubbish. Cook however, the 4th top run scorer of the year due to the number of tests he's played, has lead england without conviction and been pretty dire.

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn not much to add he's been brilliant, maybe threatened to end the year on an off-note against india but roared back in the 2nd test.
Best Youngster - I said Trent Boult last year and I think I have to say him again because I can't think of anyone else
Most Improved Bowler -Mitchell Johnson again, very obvious choice.
Best Innings - Steyn killing pakistan with 6 for 8.
Failure of the year - Shillingford, the west indies aren't allowed to have silver linings, bowled well but obviously something has been going wrong and he's banned again.

Team Category
Best Team - South Africa hold on to their title with a good display against a suprising tough india.
Most Improved Team - India ended last season getting beaten at home, they then went on a run of 6 straight wins and provided more of a challenge to south africa than they had any right to. New Zealand haven't done very badly at all though either and things are falling into place for them. A win against england might have made me say them.
Decline of the year -England have been poor and now look in a total mess, The West Indies for me can no longer even be thought of as comfortably above bangladesh. the series versus India and New Zealand were not even remotely competitive.

 

[Fenil]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Virat Kohli (ODI), Michael Clarke (Tests)
Best Youngster - Cheteshwar Pujara, Joe Root
Most Improved Batsman - Rohit Sharma (ODI), Brad Haddin (Tests)
Best Innings - Virat Kohli 100*(52) v Australia at Jaipur, Darren Bravo 218 (416) v New Zealand at Dunedin
Failure of the year - Matt Prior

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Mitchell Johnson
Best Youngster - Mohammad Shami
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson, Mohammad Irfan
Best Innings - Mitchell Johnson 7/40 vs England at Adelaide
Failure of the year - Ishant Sharma, Steve Finn

Team Category
Best Team - South Africa
Most Improved Team - India
Decline of the year - West Indies

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - ICC Champions Trophy
Best match - South Africa v India at Jo'burg
Most surprising/shocking incident - Sreesanth's involvement in IPL spot fixing

 

[Aalay]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Cheteshwar Pujara
Best Youngster - Virat Kohli
Most Improved Batsman - George Bailey
Best Innings - Dhoni's double century against Ausralia and Faf's inning against India in Johannesburg and Darren Bravo's double century against NZ
Failure of the year - Nasir Jamshed

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn
Best Youngster - Junaid Khan and Trent Boult
Most Improved Bowler - Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Johnson
Best Innings - Dale Steyn 6/8 against Pakistan
Failure of the year - Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann

Team Category
Best Team - India
Most Improved Team - New Zeland
Decline of the year - England in tests

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions trophy
Best match - India vs South Africa Johannesburg
Most surprising/shocking incident - Graeme Swann's retirement

 

[vaibhavtewatia]

Batting Category
Best Batsman - Misbah-ul-Haq
Best Youngster - Pujara
Most Improved Batsman - Virat Kohli in Tests
Best Innings - Faf Du Plesis in 4th innings v India
Failure of the year - Joe Root

Bowling Category
Best Bowler - Dale Steyn
Best Youngster - Junaid Khan
Most Improved Bowler - Mitchell Johnson
Best Innings - Steyn 6/8 v Pak
Failure of the year - Ishant Sharma

Team Category
Best Team - South Africa
Most Improved Team - India
Decline of the year - England

Misc
Best Tournament/Series - Champions Trophy, Indian tour to RSA
Best match - RSA v India at Johannesburg
Most surprising/shocking incident - Someone like Sreesanth involved in the spot fixing scandal

 

[War]

Failure of the year - Nasir Jamshed

Yes good shout here, forgot about. He indeed is the batting failure of the year after looking so good at the end of 2012, PAK were looking like they had finally found a good opener.

 

[shravi]

I don't watch ODIs, so this is tests only, except for the end.

Batting Category
Best Batsman- Cheteshwar Pujara, AB De Villiers
Best Youngster- Steven Warner
Most Improved Batsman- David Warner, Ross Taylor
Best Innings- Biased opinion but Virat Kohli in the 1st test vs South Africa
Failure of the year- Nasir Jamshed

Bowling Category
Best Bowler- Stuart Broad, Saeed Ajmal
Best Youngster- Trent Boult
Most Improved Bowler- Mitchell Johnson, Ravindra Jadeja
Failure of the year- Graeme Swann, all WI bowlers

Team Category
Best Team- None
Most Improved Team- India
Decline of the year- England

Misc
Best Tournament/Series-I only watched 2 ODI series this year and the Champions Trophy was the best tournament I have ever seen. In tests, SA vs IND. IND vs WI, not for the cricket, but for the post-match emotions.
Best match- SA vs IND 1st test, Ashes 1st test at Trent Bridge, IND vs WI 2nd test, ZIM vs PAK 2nd test
Most surprising/shocking incident- ZIM beating PAK, IPL spot-fixing, Indian performance in South Africa & Champions Trophy, England's decline

 

[puddleduck]

You're missing one key question.

Who would win in a fight? Joe Root or David Warner.

 

[Cricketman]

Failure of the year - Ishant Sharma

I am by no means an Ishant fan, but the guy did have his moments in 2013. The turning point of the CT final and his really good spells in JoBurg are real highlights for me. Idk if I would call this year a failure for him.