As we approach 2020, The Cricketer looks back on some of the moments than have shaped the cricketing world over the course of the last 10 years
In February 2019, Thailand qualified for the T20 Women’s World Cup, an extraordinary effort for a nation that only played its first game beyond the jurisdiction of the Asian Cricket Council ahead of the 2013 World T20 Qualifier.
In 2018, they recorded their first ever win against a full member side, beating Sri Lanka by four wickets during the Women’s T20 Asia Cup. And then, after coming through a qualifier that also featured Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and Papua New Guinea, the Thai side confirmed its place in Australia, losing only to Bangladesh in the final game of the pre-tournament qualifier.
By then, courtesy of a semi-final win over PNG, the job had been done. Chanida Sutthiruang was rewarded for her own form in 2019, being named as the ICC’s Women’s Emerging Player of the Year. An amazing rise. And it's not done yet...
It seems incredible in this age of T20 cricket that a record set in 2013 still stands today. That, however, is a mark of what Chris Gayle achieved in one extraordinary Indian Premier League innings.
On one remarkable April afternoon in Bangalore, the West Indian took Pune Warriors for 175 off just 66 deliveries. He hit 17 sixes and a further 13 fours. Aaron Finch, skippering Pune, elected to take matters into his own hands at one stage with his part-time left-arm spin. His solitary over cost 29 runs.
Another from Mitchell Marsh was plundered for 28. Ishwar Pandey, the year’s highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy, saw his first set taken for 21. It remains the fastest hundred in T20 history and the fourth-highest team total the format has seen.
Sourav Ganguly recently poured cold water on any talk that a Women’s IPL might be imminent, stating he could not see such a tournament taking place within the next four years. However, the last two years have, at least, seen a Women’s T20 Challenge established during the time of the Indian Premier League playoffs.
In 2018, it comprised of just a single match, with Trailblazers taking on Supernovas at the Wankhede Stadium. Stars from India, Australia, New Zealand and England were involved, with Suzie Bates named player of the match.
The following year saw a new team – Velocity – join the founding two sides. No Australians took part due to a dispute between BCCI and Cricket Australia surrounding a men’s bilateral series. That decision was roundly criticised, with the players used, in essence, as pawns in a political game. Another team is set to be added in 2020.
England won their first Ashes series in Australia since 1987 in 2011
As a Test team, England were almost faultless as they headed down under in late 2010 in search of a first Ashes triumph on enemy territory since 1987.
In Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss, they possessed the five-day game’s third most successful opening pairing of all time. In Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, they held a middle order loaded with guaranteed runs; all four had played major roles in Ashes battles before.
Matt Prior was among the world’s dominant wicketkeeper-batsmen – a fine gloveman and a superb counter-attacker with the bat. Graeme Swann was the world’s best spinner, while James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn made for a well-balanced stock of seamers.
Even when Broad went home injured, Tremlett appeared as the perfect replacement. Cook made 766 runs at 127, while there were other centuries for Strauss, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Prior. Only two Australians – Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin – reciprocated for the home side.
A 3-1 victory was the result, though the Ashes were sealed on an extraordinary Boxing Day at the MCG, with England skittling their hosts for just 98 on one of English cricket’s very greatest days.
In 2018, Cricket Australia called off a home series against Bangladesh, citing financial reasons. It was argued that it was not economically prudent to play high-profile matches in August and September – effectively, 'out of season' – in north Queensland and the Northern Territory due to clashes with the NRL and AFL seasons.
They were criticised in several quarters, however, for the way in which Bangladesh had been treated. Australia have not hosted Bangladesh in a bilateral series since 2003 and the decision to scrap the tour was viewed as an insult to a nation with less cricketing wealth.
That has changed to an extent with the foundation of the World Test Championship. But, Ireland recently called off a solitary Test against Bangladesh due to a shortage of funds. That game was not due to be part of the WTC and highlighted the economic disparity that exists in the cricketing ladder.
Four years ago, the idea that England might hold an ODI batting record was an unlikely prospect. Nothing in the history of white-ball cricket had truly suggested that they might have it in them – after all, as the 2015 World Cup showed, their methods were outdated and turgid.
And then, three years of outrageous fearlessness came to a head at Trent Bridge – for the second time in the Eoin Morgan era. They had already taken Pakistan for 444 in 50 overs by the time a depleted Australian side arrived on English shores.
By the time the carnage had come to an end – with centuries for Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales, as well as a 30-ball 67 for Morgan, the only disappointment for England was that they had finished up short of the 500 mark.
Joe Root found himself batting at No.7 as England sent for hitter after hitter in search of the milestone. There were 21 sixes hit and 41 fours. Andrew Tye, a death-bowling specialist, saw his nine overs slaughtered; he was taken for 100 and spared his 10th over by a sympathetic captain. 481 for 6. A most remarkable day.
Kevin O'Brien played one of the great World Cup innings of all time
At 111 for 5, it was done. England looked to be winning impressively over Ireland. Andrew Strauss’ side had racked up 327 for 8 from their 50 overs. And then, Kevin O’Brien happened. It remains to this day one of the great white-ball innings, let alone one of the very best World Cup knocks of all time.
He only needed 63 deliveries to take William Porterfield’s men from defeat to the least likely of victories. He bludgeoned England’s bowlers to all parts; there were 6 sixes, 13 fours, partnerships of 162 with Alex Cusack and 44 with John Mooney. By the time O’Brien was run out, the damage had been done. A day that world cricket will never forget, an occasion that made a mockery of even the notion of 'minnows'.
The introduction of the standalone Women’s Big Bash was just the next logical step when it was brought in for 2019 by Cricket Australia. Since it was announced, a parental leave policy has also been confirmed. Players who become pregnant are now able to move to a non-playing role until the birth of their child, while being eligible for 12 months of paid parental leave.
They are also to be guaranteed an extension to their contract for the following year, in line with their contractual arrangements. Meanwhile, players who act as primary carers are given transport assistance until the child is four years of age. Such support includes flights, accommodation and travel expenses.
Australia’s governing body has shown the way with its promotion of the women’s game. It was announced in October that Cricket Australia would top up any prize money won by Meg Lanning’s women’s side at the upcoming T20 World Cup to ensure parity with the equivalent winnings of the men’s team.
The ICC had already increased prize money for the women’s event by 320 per cent, but that did not match up to equality of prize money. Since 2017, all Australian players have received the same base pay rate, regardless of gender, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Cricketers’ Association.
Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed Pragyan Ojha to take his 800th Test wicket
“115.4: Muralitharan to Ojha, OUT, 800 it is! The wait and the tension is finally over! Tossed up outside off and the four men around the bat wait in anticipation! Ojha lunges forward, edges it and Mahela falls to his left and takes the catch at first slip! No need to look anywhere for confirmation, straightforward and Murali is ecstatic.”
That was the take of Cricinfo’s live ball-by-ball commentary as the great Sri Lankan finally secured his record-breaking 800th Test victim. Eighteen years on from his first – Craig McDermott trapped LBW at Colombo in 1992, he had made history, placing his name perhaps into an unbeatable bracket.
It was his final ball in Test cricket: 133 games, 800 wickets, all at an average of 22.72. Pragyan Ojha the man to carry the dubious honour. It is difficult to look now for any active Test cricketer with a genuine chance of surpassing his figure.
Rain, a shocking LBW decision and the absurd call to shrink the World Cup to a 10-team tournament – the recipe that ultimately denied Scotland a place in the 2019 showpiece. Both a shambles and a sham.
When the deluge came down and ended Scotland’s clash with West Indies, Kyle Coetzer’s side were six runs short of where they had to be in line with the DLS target. They would have been ahead, however, had it not been for an umpiring howler from Paul Wilson, who sent Richie Berrington on his way despite an LBW appeal from Ashley Nurse appearing to have – at best – very little working in its favour.
The ball struck the right-hander outside leg and it would only have continued on that journey further from the stumps. Berrington had no choice but to walk off, with the ICC deciding against employing any form of DRS system during the qualifiers, despite the competition's enormous significance.
West Indies were the beneficiaries, but there were few who didn’t sympathise immensely with the Scots. “It’s a big tournament, and a big game, and it's come down to that. It’s hard to comprehend after all the hard work we’ve done,” Coetzer reflected. Too right.
The Cricketer's 50 Most Significant Moments of the Decade continues tomorrow...
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