For the first part of The Cricketer's coverage of the best of the decade, our team begins to rank the 50 greatest cricketers to have played part in making it
The England spinner retired abruptly at the end of 2013, but Graeme Swann had managed to collect 306 wickets in 126 international appearances since the turn of the decade. Ashes action brought 48 of those, and his four-over haul of 1-17 in the World Twenty20 final of 2010 helped the country's men secure their first global limited-overs trophy.
Swann finished level with Ryan Sidebottom as England's leading wicket-taker in that tournament with 10 scalps, but it was with the red ball that Swann made the greatest impact in this decade. He was named to the ICC's Test team of the year in 2010, 2011 and 2013, beaten out by Saeed Ajmal to the spinners' spot in 2012 despite a calendar year that included 59 wickets at 29.93.
After an eight-year gap between his one-day international debut and his Test bow, Swann's emergence ahead of Monty Panesar as Andy Flower's frontline spin option across formats was one of the final pieces to the puzzle that led England to a period of incredible on-pitch success, capped by rising to the top of the Test rankings upon defeating India in 2011.
Sana Mir's influence on the perception of women's cricket in Pakistan is immeasurable. Where once even cricketing icon-turned-Prime Minister Imran Khan openly derided the idea of a national side, Mir's captaincy has guided the side to its most successful decade yet – including victories over every major nation and back-to-back Asian Games gold medals in 2010 and 2014 – and yielded a formidable personal reputation, with precisely 200 wickets in 189 matches rewarded with a rise to become ranked the world's leading ODI bowler in 2018.
Mir had previously switched seamlessly from pace to off-spin after developing back issues, though this has proved nothing like an obstacle. She is now locked in a battle with Anisa Mohammed of the West Indies on 151 career ODI wickets each – more than any other spinners, and bettered by just three seamers. Mir has also displayed all-round talents on the international circuit, passing 2,000 international runs in the decade.
Sunil Narine is one of the most revered names in the history of T20 cricket
In an age where franchise leagues have appeared and disappeared at a relentless pace, at eight years and counting, Sunil Narine's relationship with the Kolkata Knight Riders is one of the game's most storied. His emergence as a mystery spinner in the 2012 tournament was arguably the beginning of a new breed of bowler, finding great success with short-form variations with little regard for the red-ball game, and the Trinidadian has collected 379 wickets at a miserly economy of 6.02 in the shortest format as a result.
More recently, Narine has found further success as a kamikaze opener, scoring six fifties and striking at a blistering rate since moving to the top of the Knight Riders' lineup in 2017. He also claimed a run-out and astounding figures of 3-9 in the World Twenty20 final of 2012, conceding less than 2.5 runs per over as his West Indies side lifted their first ICC trophy since the 2004 Champions Trophy.
It is perhaps unfortunate that his trailblazing successes on the franchise circuit have often limited his international availability and, indeed, ambitions. Only three men in our list have played fewer than his six Tests since the start of 2010, and two of those hail from countries only awarded Test status in 2017.
Though his pure international numbers may not appear the most flattering, few players can claim to have had such an impact on their nation as Mohammad Nabi. The Afghanistan all-rounder had first represented his country in 2003 and was an integral member of the side as they developed through the decade, culminating in the award of Full Member status and their first Test caps in 2017. His Test career may have spanned just three games – albeit including two historic victories over Afghanistan and Bangladesh – but he boasts a country-best 66 wickets in first-class matches this decade.
In fact, until missing a game against Scotland in April while on IPL duty, Nabi had not missed a single one of the 111 official ODIs his country had played, and he made history in 2017 by becoming the first Afghan to be selected in the IPL auction. He has since gone on to become a regular on the short-form circuit, tallying 228 runs and eight wickets as the Melbourne Renegades lifted last season's Big Bash title and representing Leicestershire and Kent in the T20 Blast.
West Indies cricket may have spent much of the past decade in administrative turmoil, particularly around the fraud conviction of domestic T20 bankroller Allen Stanford in 2012, and several of their most notable players have been more prolific on franchise duty than in representing the islands' side. However, the decade has nevertheless returned two World Twenty20 titles in 2012 and 2016, and the future is bright following emergence of a new crop of youngsters led by towering Barbadian Jason Holder.
Holder himself debuted in 2013, and in less than six years later had become the first West Indian all-rounder to top the ICC's Test rankings since Sir Garfield Sobers 45 years prior. His rise followed a spectacular 229-ball double-century at the Kensington Oval, which was just the third in Test history to come from a player batting eight or lower and inspired his side to a famous 381-run victory over the touring England side that later led to a 2-1 series win.
His leadership potential was identified early, becoming the youngest captain in West Indies history upon succeeding Denesh Ramdin as the skipper of the Test side after just eight games, and averaging 32.29 with the bat and 24.77 with the ball to date across his five years with the reins. His ability in crunch situations is tremendous too – his Test record is best in the fourth innings with ball and bat alike – and under his reign the Caribbean faithful have a real reason for cross-format optimism.
Anya Shrubsole became the first woman to appear on the cover of the Wisden Almanack after bowling England to a famous World Cup success in 2017
In one July afternoon in 2017, a tremendous haul of 6-46 from Anya Shrubsole cemented her place in the history books by decimating India and sealing an improbable nine-run victory for England in the World Cup final. The match was one of the biggest moments in the history of the women's game, televised to a home audience of over one million and played in front of a capacity crowd at the Home of Cricket, and her figures have been bettered just three times by any England bowler in the ODI format.
Shrubsole's achievements elsewhere in the game are numerous, with the Somerset seamer collecting a total of 138 international caps since the start of 2010, including five Ashes Tests. At the domestic level, she has assisted Western Storm to all four Kia Super League Finals Days – including trophies in 2017 and 2019, and being promoted to open the batting in the 2018 semi-final in the absence of India star Smriti Mandhana – and she boasts 73 wickets at just 13.80 wickets in the decade for Somerset.
Still just 24 years of age, Kagiso Rabada was playing Test cricket within 12 months of making his professional debut and used blistering pace to top both the ICC's Test and ODI bowler rankings by the start of 2018. His arrival has allowed for a seamless transition in the Proteas pace ranks following the Morkel-Steyn era, and he is currently on track to eclipse even their records – his first 40 Tests have yielded 183 wickets at a lower average (22.50) and strike rate (40.2) than either managed in their careers.
Rabada first made a real impression on the international game at the Under-19 World Cup of 2014, where his team-best return of 14 wickets at 10.28 – conceding just 3.10 per over, and claiming 6-25 against Australia in the semi-final – lifted Aiden Markram's side to the tournament spoils.
His rise through the ranks has since shown no sign of abating, claiming 13 English wickets in just his third home Test match and going on to collect 155 victims in 30 outings between 2016 and 2018. His record is similarly impressive with the white ball in hand – his 28 T20 wickets have come one every 16.5 balls, and he has flourished in ODI cricket with 50 career wickets both home and away since his 2015 debut.
Above anything else, the sudden retirement of Mark Boucher early in 2012 left South African cricket facing a real dilemma. His 15-year career spanned 467 matches and included a world-record 555 Test dismissals, but when a freak eye injury prematurely ended his final tour of England the Proteas were left a choice of either giving the gloves to their best batsman (AB de Villiers) or risking an inexperienced domestic player.
Enter Quinton de Kock, who is now a near-certain first choice for any South Africa XI. After making his T20 international debut in December 2012 four days after turning 20, within three years he was firmly established as the gloveman across formats, and his confident short-form strokeplay against the white ball saw him additionally fill the Graeme Smith-shaped hole at the top of the innings.
As such, comparisons to Australia great Adam Gilchrist are inevitable, but de Kock has 19 international centuries before even reaching the age at which Gilchrist played the first of his 96 Tests. Fourteen of those have been in the ODI game – an average of 45.01 comes with a career-best of 178, and his three successive tons against India in 2013 were a record at the time – and a strong performance in this month's first Test against England in Centurion could well see him finish the decade as the world's top-ranked wicketkeeper-batsman in all three formats.
Jos Buttler has tallied five of England's 10 fastest ODI centuries against Full Member nations
Jos Buttler made his professional debut not even four months before the start of the decade, but he finishes it with a reputation as one of the most formidable and creative batsmen in the world. Buttler's arrival signified the start of an explosive new era in the white-ball game – when he and Alex Hales debuted against India in 2011, Rahul Dravid lined up opposite for his one and only T20 international and Jade Dernbach claimed player of the match honours – and his talent was rewarded in July as he secured the run-out that won England their first men's World Cup title.
Buttler's career is one defined by moments of sheer brilliance. For instance, of his nine ODI centuries to date, seven have come from 75 balls or fewer, including 46 and 50-ball efforts against Pakistan in 2015 and 2019 respectively. That he has yet to tally three figures in an official Twenty20 seems anomalous – in the short form he has struck at 145 across his 227 innings this decade, and it was a blistering run of five consecutive fifties opening for Rajasthan Royals in the 2018 IPL that encouraged England to disregard convention and give him a shot at an extended run in the Test side.
That selection – one of Ed Smith's first after being appointed chief selector – was richly rewarded over the 12 months that followed, with Buttler quickly becoming one of the most consistent members of England's Test XI and scoring a maiden century against India at Trent Bridge later that summer. His progress has not always been smooth – a move from Somerset to Lancashire was forced for him to leapfrog incumbent Craig Kieswetter both domestically and internationally – but few make it look easier when striding to the crease.
Just three bowlers have been more prolific at international level this decade than Tim Southee, with the New Zealander now sitting on 472 wickets since the start of 2010 and maintaining his place as the veteran leader of the attack during the side's ongoing tour of Australia. Southee has never been the most flamboyant or eye-catching of players, even in an ever-understated Blackcaps outfit – though his remarkable record-breaking spell of 7-33 against England at the 2015 World Cup might beg to differ.
Southee has been an ever-present member of the side throughout the decade, making 237 international appearances and acting as captaincy cover for Kane Williamson on 12 occasions in the last three years. Southee has claimed at least 40 international wickets in nine of the last 10 calendar years, and in 2014 he became the first New Zealand bowler to be named to the ICC's Test team of the year in a historic year for the side under the leadership of Mike Hesson. In a transformational generation for the country, which included heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup final in 2015, Southee has been integral.
The Cricketer's 50 Best Cricketers of the Decade continues tomorrow...
Subscribe to The Cricketer this Christmas and receive a £20 John Lewis voucher or Alastair Cook's autobiography. Claim your free gift here
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.