Cricinfo’s senior editors on the best passages of cricket they watched in 2008
05-Jan-2009
Hold on to this one, he’s a goodie: his team-mates swarm Mendis in the Asia Cup final © AFP
Osman SamiuddinMendis in the Asia Cup final
This was the beauty of it, of cricket and cricketers in the subcontinent. A young guy, very much his own guy, little heard of, coming out on a big stage and torpedoing a giant. Even if Ajantha Mendis never bowled another ball or got another wicket, his six-for would stand as tribute, a most beautiful tribute in fact, to the art and joy of this region’s cricket. It doesn’t matter if it is a fleeting thing – often that enhances it – for in that moment, or prolonged moment, you are sucked in and taken along on a ride where nothing makes sense but everything makes you smile and makes the hair on your body stand up. Cricket becomes an experience, a very visceral experience, and not a sport, to be sensed, even touched, but above all to be felt.These bouts are difficult to explain. The National Stadium in Karachi had been a graveyard for the bowlers. Three hundred was the new 240. Two seventy-four was thus a gettable thing, and with Virender Sehwag in flow and India 76 for 1 in the 10th over, it threatened to be a miniscule total. Mendis – rested in the group game against India – came on, Sehwag charged a straight, wide one, missed, and was stumped. Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma also missed straight balls; they expected something to happen with that strange grip and yet nothing really did. Suddenly India were all out for 173. These things happen in such a sudden burst of flair.There was about the whole spell, a very Pakistani air – something a Waqar or Wasim could do, but more pertinently something a guy like Mohammad Zahid from Gaggu Mandi, who only his parents had heard of, could do. Stuart Broad took a superb five-fer against South Africa last summer but it was all so pristine, so sanitised: straight-up swing; nice, coached upright action; edges to slip; boy who has worked his way through a structure.This was nothing like it, because it induced in India a very visible panic and in everyone else the purest thrill, from a guy nobody knew much about. Fielders suddenly become more alert, batsmen more incompetent, balls turning who knows which way, and that is the joy of cricket surely, at its absolute base level: in a team game, one man changing the mood of a match, of entire countries, in a trice, just like that, as you or I might turn on a switch. Indeed, the best was that until the very end, nobody could say for sure that someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni – an equal of Mendis in unorthodoxy – wouldn’t do what Mendis had just done and switch it all back. Ajantha Mendis, long may he live and bowl; the glory of this region’s cricket, long may it flourish.Peter EnglishSession one at the WACA, Australia v South Africa
Opening sessions that justify the pre-series hype are rare and whenAustralia are involved they usually occur only in Ashes contests. SouthAfrica provided the perfect gatecrash in the first Test at the WACA with abrilliant 30 minutes that involved three wickets and showed Australia werefinally in a serious contest at home. Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini had beentalked about as major weapons and they provided the early bullets. Gettingthrough Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey can sometimes takesdays, but the opening pair managed it in less than six overs.An out-of-form Hayden was uncertain outside off stump and edged to Ntini,who followed next ball by having a driving Ponting caught superbly by AB deVilliers in the cordon. Hussey avoided the hat-trick but was quickly linedup by Steyn’s angle and de Villiers was sharp again. It was the sort ofspell that excited neutrals, shocked Australian fans and gave South Africanshope.It also did something that few teams manage Down Under, by getting the homeplayers to doubt themselves. To achieve all that in half an hour was anincredible feat. While it set up the series, it did not gain South Africaimmediate control, with the advantage swinging from side to side throughoutthe three sessions – and the entire game. The opening day couldn’t match thestart of the Ashes in 2005, but it was so addictive.
Flintoff wonders just what he needs to do after a plumb lbw against Kallis has been turned down © Getty Images
Andrew MillerFlintoff to Kallis at Edgbaston
A spell so good, it deserved to win a Test match. That it did not wasultimately down to the skill of Graeme Smith, whose incredible 154 not outin the second innings secured an improbable run-chase, but when AndrewFlintoff tore into Jacques Kallis to turn the Edgbaston Test match on itshead, it was the moment a great competitor announced his rehabilitation atTest level. Until his intervention, England had been drifting out ofcontention. Their first-innings 231 had been all but matched and six SouthAfrican wickets were still standing. Then Flintoff upped the ante. Twobrutal bouncers and a pair of perfect yorkers, the second of which struckKallis plumb in front of middle, revived memories of Flintoff’s inspiredover to Ricky Ponting on the same ground in 2005, except it took anotherfour deliveries to get the desired result. Another wicked bouncer and aperfect outswinging yorker ripped Kallis from the crease, to scenes of wildadulation.The over had a twin impact. Firstly, it was indisputable proof of Flintoff’senduring class at international level – at the age of 30, and after fourankle operations, seeing was believing, and for the packed Birmingham crowdthat day, belief had rarely felt so good. Secondly, it reminded England thatall the line-and-length merchants in the world cannot make up for the rawthreat of a genuine 90mph speedster. For the next Test at The Oval, KevinPietersen’s first in charge, Steve Harmison was recalled to the fold, andthe improvement in the team was plain for all to see.Dileep PremachandranYuvraj v England’s spinners in Chennai
As VVS Laxman trudges back, some fans clutch their heads in despair.Yuvraj Singh strides to the middle a minute later, but on a final-daypitch taking dramatic turn, he’s not the figure you want to see. Sachin Tendulkarhas made sedate progress to 32, and it’s becoming increasingly obviousthat he will have to seize the initiative if the effervescent Graeme Swannand the less bubbly Monty Panesar are to be kept at bay.Tendulkar starts Panesar’s next over with a typically precise paddlesweep. As it streaks past Matt Prior and the helmet for four, the crowdfinds its voice again. After a nervous Yuvraj sees off another over fromSwann, Tendulkar targets Monty once more. This time, a short ball isdismissed to the rope at square leg. He seems to be warming into his roleas Yuvraj’s guardian.But does the younger man need such cotton wool? Having been flummoxed by aSwann delivery that turns right across his bat and into Prior’s gloves,Yuvraj decides to trust the attacking instincts that have served him sowell in coloured clothes. A lovely back-foot push through the covers givesSwann reason to think, and when the next ball lands on leg stump, it’sswept with awesome power for four more.
Ishant Sharma draws first blood in what turned out to be the rivalry of the year © Getty Images
When Monty resumes, Yuvraj is out of his crease and lofting withconfidence down to long-on. Pietersen swiftly calls off his spin twins andbrings back Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. The tide has turned, the Red Sea partedby a man who allegedly can’t play spin.Sambit BalIshant v Ponting in Perth
It isn’t coincidence that four out of five in this collection of memories of the best cricket we watched last year – are about triumphs by bowlers. It¹sa reflection of our times. What’s rare is precious. When the standardwicket-taking method is boring the batsman out with run-denying lines andsmart fields, which often include a deep point, out-and-out wicket-takingperformances are the ones to hold on to.After a bit of juggling I settled on Ishant Sharma’s dismantling of RickyPonting over Ajantha Mendis’ dumbfounding of Rahul Dravid in Colombo – if only because the first was a spectacle that lasted an hour. Already in the same Test we had seen a thrilling duel between the game’s two premier players, Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee, but this was between a rookie and a master, and the master ended up looking like a rookie.In the first over he bowled to him on the fourth day, Ishant could have hadPonting twice – one went away missing the outside edge by a fraction, andanother jagged back and hit in front – but that he didn’t only prolonged thedrama. Ishant charged in over and over, hurrying Ponting with pace, getting himto fend with bounce, beating him with movement. Every over probably seemedlike an eternity for Ponting, who couldn’t even get off strike. Thereward finally came in the eighth, which came about as a last-secondchange of mind prompted by Virender Sehwag, who had seen Ishant bowl longspells as his captain for the Delhi team. The ball pitched on off stump and rosewhile leaving Ponting, who could only edge it to Rahul Dravid at slip. Thatwas Ishant’s only wicket in the innings, but it was the one that mattered.