Wisden Cricketer's Almanack

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Wisden celebrates England's Ashes - England's journey from 'Shambles to Shangri-La'

The 147th edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, launched today, tells the story of England's recapture of the Ashes - in the words of the victorious captain, Andrew Strauss. In his dissection of a 2-1 series win "that defied logic", Strauss reveals that the difference between the two sides was not "tactical acumen, superior planning, or inspired individual performances". Instead, "The answer lies somewhere in what people like to call the unity, or spine, of the team."

The Ashes victory was the culmination of an incredible resurgence in which England, in the words of the Observer correspondent, Vic Marks, went from "shambles to Shangri-La" in the space of 12 months. Strauss recalls the Mumbai terrorist attacks that disrupted their tour of India in 2008-09, as well as the Moores-Pietersen turmoil surrounding his ascent to the captaincy, and says that coping with these trials made his team a cohesive and resilient outfit: "I believe strongly that shared experiences, the type of which don't happen every day, are actually what brings teams together.

Wisden celebrates England's Ashes - England's journey from 'Shambles to Shangri-La'

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The Wisden Test XI
1 Virender Sehwag (India)
2 Andrew Strauss (England)
3 Gautam Gambhir (India)
4 Sachin Tendulkar (India)
5 Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
6 Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, capt & wk)
8 Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
9 Graeme Swann (England)
10 Peter Siddle (Australia)
11 James Anderson (England)

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Sehwag named Wisden's Leading Cricketer

Several strong candidates advanced their case to be the Leading Cricketer in the World in 2009. None, however, made such an impact as to displace the incumbent, Virender Sehwag, India's 31-year-old opening batsman, who extended the sport's traditional boundaries further still. He scored more quickly than any specialist batsman in Tests or one-day internationals. Last year he broke Test cricket's sound barrier by scoring at more than a run a ball. Australia's former captain Ian Chappell, in as good a position to judge as anybody alive, directly compared Sehwag to Sir Donald Bradman: they have the fastest scoring-rate among players of their generation, and are the only men to have exceeded 290 three times in Tests. Chappell called Sehwag "the greatest destroyer since the U-boat", and dismissed the accusation that he prospered only in home conditions by pointing out that he averaged almost 50 abroad.

Sehwag raised the bar even higher than in 2008, when he had scored at strike-rate of 85 runs per 100 balls in Tests, and 120 in one-day internationals.

In 2009 he did not play so much, after injuring his right shoulder during the second IPL, and for much of the year the giant rested. It was no coincidence that, in his absence, India were knocked out in the early stages of both the World Twenty20 and the Champions Trophy. He still played in all of India's Test matches in 2009 - a three-Test series in New Zealand and another at home to Sri Lanka - and, in steering them to No. 1 in the Test rankings for the first time, Sehwag averaged 70, with a strike-rate of 108.9.

Sehwag named Wisden's Leading Cricketer

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The Wisden Five

Matt Prior

Many people's abiding image of the 2009 Ashes will be Graeme Swann wheeling away into the covers having taken the final wicket at The Oval. Or perhaps Andrew Flintoff genuflecting at Lord's. Or could it be something more obscure, something almost lost in the commotion of the final day? As Marcus North executed an expansive sweep against Swann, the ball gripped the dusty soil and ripped past his bat to be caught by England's wicketkeeper, who glanced down at North's back foot and, with a swivel of the hips, whipped off the bails with his right hand. North half-looked round, guiltily, to see his foot on the line. There was no need for the third umpire. Matt Prior was already dancing a jig of joy as his team-mates poured over him.

The dismissal was not the most important of the day; by then, England would have regained the Ashes anyway. But it stood out for two reasons. It represented an immense talent finally fulfilled, in a cricketer with a huge work ethic who has always been desperate to succeed. And among the pile of Ashes coverage there have been only fragments of comment about Prior's glovework; like a good football referee, his best work went unnoticed.

His stumping at The Oval crowned a year that began with the birth of his first child. Prior comfortably out-kept the vaunted Brad Haddin, was England's second-highest run-scorer in the Ashes, with a Gilchrist-like strike-rate of 82, and established himself as the first-choice keeper in all three formats. "It was crazy, like nothing I've ever played in before," Prior says of the Ashes. "More so for the off-pitch goings-on than for what happened on the field. I did a press conference at Lord's and I've never seen so many people and cameras crammed into one room. It was quite daunting. I started to be recognised in public for the first time."

Stuart Broad

It was with his devastating, series-winning, career-defining bowling spell at The Oval that Stuart Broad made an indelible mark on Ashes history; but it was in the previous, chastening Test at Headingley that he helped shift the momentum that was swinging Australia's way.

When England, still leading the series 1-0, staggered to the end of the second day of the Fourth Test, they were teetering at 82 for five in their second innings, still 261 behind Australia and heading for the most comprehensive defeat. What happened next not only irritated Australia but played no small part in England regaining their self-esteem for the decider.

"It was typical Andy Flower," says Broad. "He gathered those of us still to bat on the Sunday morning and said 'I don't care how you do it. You can leave every ball, block every ball or hit every ball for four, but go out there and show some fight. We must leave this ground with something to show for our efforts.' Matty Prior started it by going after them and they started to get a bit frustrated.

"Then Graeme Swann came in. I always enjoy batting with him, because we hit the ball in different areas but score at a decent pace, and we just got a bit of momentum going. It was a good laugh, the crowd got behind us and the atmosphere was fantastic. We clawed a little bit back and it gave us a lot of confidence."

In an eighth-wicket stand of 108 in 12.3 overs, Broad scored 61 to follow career-best figures of six for 91. He might not have been selected had Andrew Flintoff been fit. It did not stop Australia levelling the series with an innings victory, but some pride had been restored and foundations laid for what was to come in Kennington.

Graeme Swann

The celebrations may have been overexuberant, but they were perfectly understandable. When a well-flighted off-break found Mike Hussey's inside edge and thigh pad before ending up in Alastair Cook's hands at short leg, Graeme Swann could be forgiven for going over the top. Once it became apparent that the surface at The Oval bore an uncanny resemblance to a sandpit, the onus was on him to perform, and four days later he had delivered. That wicket confirmed the prize which English cricket craves most - the climax of a heady year for Swann, who rose from a supporting tourist to the country's No. 1 spinner.

Michael Clarke

There was a time when Michael Clarke was viewed even by some of his teammates as a bit of a glory boy. Richly talented and with an impeccable pedigree, this kid was along for the ride - the only 20-something in a team of hardnosed 30-somethings who ruled the world, a Generation Y in a group of uncompromising streetfighters. Even when he was made vice-captain after Adam Gilchrist retired early in 2008, Gilchrist was one of those warning that Clarke should not assume he would be Australia's next captain. Was he tough enough when it counted? He has been answering in the affirmative almost ever since.

In 2009, Clarke reinforced his status as one of Australia's premier batsmen, but was gutted when a string of sterling performances came to nothing. It was no consolation that he was Australia's leading run-scorer in the Ashes, with 448 runs at 64; he failed twice at The Oval, where England won easily to claim the series 2-1. Clarke had dominated the first four Tests with two centuries, a 93 and an 83, and was in line for the Compton-Miller medal for the series' best player. That was until the man who rightly beat him for the honour, England captain Andrew Strauss, completely out-batted him and out-thought him at The Oval, with a catch at short cover in the first innings and a spectacular run-out in the second. "The game always finds a way of bit

Graham Onions

After two years flirting with England's second team, Graham Onions could not even get into Durham's side at the end of the 2008 season. His team-mate Mark Davies had nosed ahead of him on to the England Lions tours of India and New Zealand. But working hard at home proved the catalyst for Onions's transformation.

"Not being part of the celebrations when Durham won their first title down at Canterbury really hurt," he says. "I got very frustrated and, after being in the England set-up a year earlier, not hearing from them hurt as well. I had to prove I could take my game to the next level, so I trained really hard over the winter. I had struggled in 2008 after a six-week lay-off with a heel injury, and it wasn't the first time a season had tailed off for me. I was determined it wouldn't happen again."

A year later, he had been a leading figure in Durham retaining the County Championship; taken his first 20 Test wickets during the summer, helping to regain the Ashes; usurped a central contract from colleague Steve Harmison; and toured South Africa with the Test and one-day squads, saving two Tests with some never-say-die batting from No. 11.

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Notes by the Editor

An Indian businessman arrived at the India Office in London more than a century ago, seeking permission to start the first steel industry in his own country. Jamshedji Tata was graciously given permission, but only after the Viceroy of India had declared that he would eat his hat if Tata succeeded in producing one ingot of steel. As the Allied war effort in Asia was later to depend on the steel made in the city named after its founder, Jamshedpur, it was just as well for most of us - if not for the viceregal digestion - that Tata did succeed.

Indian businessmen have now taken over the English invention of Twenty20 cricket, just as Jamshedji's descendants, the Tata Steel Group, have bought up what was British Steel. Last year the second Indian Premier League was staged in South Africa, relocated there with a speed and efficiency previously unknown to cricket, and the inaugural Champions League - the first tournament for domestic Twenty20 winners, and some runners-up - was staged in India. While the International Cricket Council repeatedly stated that Test cricket is the highest form of the sport, they organised a second World Twenty20, and seem to be turning it into an almost annual event.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced before the start of last season that the 2009 Pro40 would be the final 40-over competition, and that it would be replaced by an all-singing and all-dancing Twenty20, so that county cricket would have not one but two 20-over tournaments per summer. Later, the ECB worked out that the sums did not add up, reverted to one 20-over tournament, and abolished the domestic 50-over competition instead. There was no catching the Twenty20 boat once it had sailed east.

Notes by the Editor​

 

[Ahmad Shah]

no ponting that's a shame

 

[Brook]

What did Ponting do in 09?

 

[Harishan]

Very well deserved by Sehwag.

Averaging 70 with the bat at a strike rate over 100 in tests is an outstanding feat. Hats off to him and hopefully he can continue his amazing form. He is undoubtedly one of the finest strokeplayers I have seen, as well.

 

[Iridium]

With the results he's getting, it's kind of hard to ignore Sehwag as their leading cricketer. To get that balance of consistency coupled with his insane scoring rate for Tests is just awesome.

 

[Brook]

I would have to ask, why no Samaraweera? Also Broad over Anderson I think, more wickets at a better average. Also what did Kallis do in 2009?

 

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The player of the decade doesn't make the final team...

 

[King Pietersen]

I would have to ask, why no Samaraweera? Also Broad over Anderson I think, more wickets at a better average. Also what did Kallis do in 2009?

Kallis made more runs than Samaraweera, against Australia and England in conditions offering far more for bowlers.

Who's that Gazza? Ponting? If so, it's probably because he only averaged 38 and being captain of an Ashes losing side can't have helped matters either.

 

[Brook]

Cricinfo - Test Batting 2009

 

[King Pietersen]

My bad, was look at his 'season 2009' by mistake.

 

[Brook]

Also I was looking at the bowling figures for 2009, not a single 10-fer. Also Murali was terrible that year.

 

[drainpipe32]

Who's that Gazza? Ponting? If so, it's probably because he only averaged 38 and being captain of an Ashes losing side can't have helped matters either.

Wasn't saying he should have been mate, just pointing it out.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I think Sehwag is a good choice, for me, he's the one player at his peak right now that will go down as a legend of the game.

However, I do find it hard to see what more Dilshan could have done to get the recognition. 6 test tons, 10 ODI tons, 4 t20 50s and the highest score of the year amongst them AND the MOS for the world championship. I feel Sehwag got the nod due to the fact he's likely to be talked about in 10-20 years, and Wisden's Leading Cricketer looks to award potential legends, rather than simply the best player of the year, who for me, across all formats was the best player.

StinkyBoHoon added 8 Minutes and 24 Seconds later...

The player of the decade doesn't make the final team...

the player of the decade should have been murali anyway. All we get is bitching about flat tracks these days and yet one guy takes 565 wickets at under 21 and it goes to a batsman. it's a bit rich of anyone to complain about bowlers getting humped about t20 when institutions like wisden treat them like that in their own pages.