LONDON: South Africa enjoyed a superb 2012 as they went to the top of the world Test rankings.
Unbeaten in 10 Tests, a notable nine away from home, South Africa ended England’s year-long reign at the summit with a convincing 2-0 win in a three-match series and then battled for two draws in Australia before a commanding 309-run victory in the third Test at Perth.
Graeme Smith, now the most-capped Test captain of all-time, scored a hundred in his 100th Test at The Oval and the same match saw Hashim Amla became the first South African to score a Test triple hundred. Dale Steyn led a formidable pace attack featuring Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and the seemingly ageless all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
West Indies took the ICC World Twenty20 Cup home. PHOTO: AGENCIES
Meanwhile, after years of declining performances, the West Indies won the World Twenty20. West Indies gave their long-suffering fans something to celebrate when they beat hosts Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final.
Batting records of a different sort fell to Michael Clarke, with the Australia captain becoming the first player to score four Test double centuries in a calendar year. By contrast, runs dried up for Australia great Ricky Ponting, who could only manage eight in his final innings before retiring following the Perth defeat by South Africa. However, he left with a tally of 13,378 Test runs.
Ricky Ponting called time on his career. PHOTO: AGENCIES
The 39-year-old Tendulkar continued to play on as fellow India ‘golden generation’ batting stars VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid retired. But following his 100th international hundred in a one-day match against Bangladesh in March, runs became increasingly hard to come by for Tendulkar. The concern surrounding the ‘Little Master’ appeared to inhibit an India side who suffered a 2-1 series loss to England in December. It was India’s first home series defeat in eight years and England’s first in India since 1984-85, with Alastair Cook starring with the bat after succeeding retired former opening partner Andrew Strauss as England captain.
Cook broke Test records this year. PHOTO: AGENCIES
Cook’s influence could also be seen in the ‘reintegration’ of Kevin Pietersen into the side after the South Africa born-batsman was dropped for sending ‘provocative’ texts to Proteas players regarding then-captain Strauss. Pietersen responded with a superb innings of 186 against India in the second Test at Mumbai.
Australia great Shane Warne dropped hints about a 2013 Ashes comeback while Yuvraj Singh returned to India duty following lung cancer.
Fixing continued to plague world cricket, with Pakistan and Essex leg-spinner Danish Kaneria banned for life by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after being found guilty of corruption. Pakistan beat England in their adopted home of the United Arab Emirates and the year ended with Bangladesh agreeing to tour Pakistan in early 2013.
Ross Taylor led New Zealand to their first Test win in Sri Lanka for 14 years but was still axed as captain. New Zealand officials apologised for the manner of his sacking but by then Taylor, the team’s best batsman, had made himself unavailable for the tour of South Africa.
In another largely tough year for Bangladesh there was the satisfaction of a one-day series win against the West Indies.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
What about Pakistan white washing the No.1 team(England) at the beginning of the year. Surely that was a highlight!!!.