v2 Cricket Awards 2012: Part 2 - Tests and County cricket

OK. The second part of the awards for this year.

Tests:

Batsman
Bowler
Team
Achievement
Match

County:

Batsman
Bowler
Team

Tests:

Batsman - Could go to one of two men in my eyes, but I've plumped for Michael Clarke, just, over Hashim Amla.
Bowler - Can't think of anyone who has really stood out. I'll just give it to the highest wicket taker this year in Rangana Herath.
Team - South Africa, easy really. Test series wins in England and Aus and World No1's.
Achievement - The first SA 300 from Hashim Amla, although I really wanted to give it to Cook for his tour of India. And I'll let Tino Best complete the top three for that magnificent innings against England.
Match - I haven't seen much cricket outside of England, so I will go with Eng/SA in T3 at Lords. Great drama.

County:

Batsman - Nick Compton. No doubt.
Bowler - Graham Onions. Stacks of wickets and that 9fer (plus a run out!).
Team - Hampshire's two One Day trophies just pip Warks winning the CC.

Tests:

Batsman-Michael Clarke
Bowler-Rangana Herath
Team-South Africa-(OBVIOUS TO BE HONEST)
Achivement-Michael Clarke-and the number of double hundreds he achieved in a calendar year!!
Match-South Africa vs England- Lords

County-Nick Compton (OBVIOUS)
Bowler-Graham Onions-Probably the un-luckiest bowler in the world..would probably get into most other test match attacks
Team-Warwickshire

The early thoughts regarding testt batsman of the year are around Michael Clarke, Hashim Amla and Alastair Cook.
Herat has a strong claim for the bowler of the year award, particularly with the recent 5 wicket haul in Australia.
What about Pietersen's 3 genius knocks against Sri Lanka, South Africa and India for the achievement of the year?

Herath is the funny one. He has loads of wickets but yet every time he's shown to be second in the rankings everyone moans that it shows that the rankings are a joke. Well, what do you expect rankings to do? Ignore wickets?

Perhaps a bit more to debate here than the one-dayers. In particular, Amla, Cook or Clarke?

I'm tempted to go Amla personally, but could go any way.

And then for the bowler. There is Herath, but also Morkel and perhaps Philander. As an outsider Kemar Roach - only a handful of Tests but lethal when he did play.

Nothing much original here

Tests
Batsman: Michael Clarke
Bowler: probably Herath
Team: SA
Moment: Amla's 300

County:
Team: Warks
Batsman: Compton
Bowler: Onions

Tests:

Batsman - Amla
Bowler - Herath
Team - SA
Achievement - Amla getting SA's first triple

County:

Batsman - Compton
Bowler - Onions (desperately want him to play in NZ)
Team - Warwickshire

Clarke gets another ton, think I am very sure now about him being the test batsman of the year.

Herath takes 0 - 95 off 39 overs in the Aussie first innings. Making a late bid to lower his strike rate for 2012

msp83 wrote:Clarke gets another ton, think I am very sure now about him being the test batsman of the year.

Yes I think I'd make that amendment to my choices looking back! Passing Pontings record that he made from 28 innings in 18 innings is truly exceptional. (Punter did set the third highest Aussie total in a year from 18 innings though to be fair)

Whilst the case for Clarke is extremely strong, I'm still tempted to back Amla. The SA v Eng series was the key encounter of the year and he was incredible in that. And then added two more 100s in 3 Tests v Oz.

Despite Herath's stats for me the bowler should be Morne Morkel. He's found a consistency that's generally been missing this year, allowing him to be devastating at his best, but threatening even on an off day.

Morkel has matured a lot this year, he bowled conosiatently well during the year and at times was very unlucky not to take more wickets than he did.

Steyn and Philander may get most of the accolades but Morkel who has been the "supporting" bowler for the past few years has slowly but surely become a very important cog in the bowling attack.

As for Amla, his batting this season has been the catalyst that won SA both away series. He has also shown how well he can adapt in different match conditions and were very successful in exploiting weaknesses in bowling attacks and set SA up in great situations.

Cook and Amla has had a terrific year, but Clarke has been outstanding. 329,259, 230....... The average has been 106, the lowest of his hundred+ scores this year. He didn't have too much of top order support while building up those big scores either.
The big thing in Hashim's favore is that his big scores have come away from home, in high pressure series against ENgland and Australia, not the easiest of places to tour. But for me, Clarke just about edges it.

Morkel had a good year, but I don't think he had setup as many matches as Herath did, or had the kind of impact that Saeed Ajmal had or rebound as Swann did or shown himself in tough and helpless conditions as Anderson did. He rath had no real bowling support, while that may have been reflected in him picking 60 wickets from 10 matches to Morkel's 38 in 10 matches, without support it is dificult to build pressure and take wickets.
Another fast bowler who needs to be considered is West Indies pacer Kemar Roach who was lethal in the matches he played whether in England or at home. In fact I'd say he has more of a claim than Morne has. Herath, with his fifer in Australia in the first test remains my first choice.

Hi folks, hope all are having a good Christmas. Quick look in.

Excuses first . Haven't seen that much Test cricket this year and don't follow it now as closely as some here. Anyway, here goes:

Batsman: Amla. Tend to agree with the comments of Shelsey and Biltong which gets him my vote ahead of Clarke by the narrowest squeak.

Bowler: Swann. Found this one incredibly hard. Not sure at all it's right but Swanny always seems to be there plugging away and generally picking up wickets. Herath can count himself unlucky but he was absolute garbage when he played for Surrey two or three years back and that has to be held against him!

Team: South Africa. Arte et labore.

Achievement: Panesar's 11 wickets in the second Test versus India. Turned a series on its head as the team on the slide swapped places with that in the ascendancy.

Match: Australia v South Africa, second Test at Adelaide. This was also a contender for my 'Achievement' award as South Africa batted out day 5 to earn a draw and finish on 248-8 having been 77-4 at the close of day 4 and appearing to be staring defeat in the face.

As for the English county scene, can't disagree with the general flow but a few extra honourable mentions:

Batsman: Compton. Special mention as well to Chris Read of Notts - despite his day job being a keeper, he still scored almost a thousand first class runs and, as always, played according to match circumstances.

Bowler: Onions. Shout outs at the top and bottom of Division One to Warks' Chris Wright and Keith 'Ronnie' Barker (both coming from the back row of the chorus to take centre stage) and Worcs' Alan Richardson (Worcs were poor last season but they would have been utterly appalling without their ageless seamer).

Team: Warks. Winning the County Championship has to be the pinnacle for me but great effort by Hants to scoop 2 one day trophies.

nothing much original but I just can't resist lists:

Tests:
Batsman - Clarke
Bowler - Herath (shading Roach)
Team - SA
Achievement - Faf du Plessis saving SA v Aus 2nd test (shading Eng turning it around in India, I gave them no chance)
Match - Eng v SA 3rd test

My votes.
Batsman Michael Clarke
Bowler Rangana Herath
Team South Africa
In the achievement category, I have a new suggestion for which I am voting eventually, Bangladesh youngster Abul Hasan scoring a test hundred from number 10.
Match, had to think about it a bit, but eventually go for SA v Australia 2nd test at Adelaide.

just to point out as well..

abul hasan was on debut as well!

good call about Hasan, him and Tino Best are just supreme events that don't really happen in other sports

Just a quick thought on the Clarke/Amla debate, although Amla played fantastically well in England with zillion's of runs, if England had taken as i recall, even a few of the many catches {7 or 8 early in innings} that Amla offered, the outcome may have been so different.

But Eng did'nt

Tests:

Batsman : Amla
Bowler : Anderson
Team : SA
Achievement : England winning a Test series in India after 28 years
Best batting : KP 186 at Mumbai
Best bowling : Monty at Mumbai and Swann at Colombo
Match : SA vs Aus at Adelaide

County:

Batsman : Compton
Bowler : Onions
Team : Warwickshire

Best knock : KP at Guildford and Root's double hundred