Test cricket passes the test

Hello and welcome back to my blog

As promised here is the obligatory review-of-2010 entry and I'm sorry it took so long for me to post it but 2010 did not exactly pass without event (unless you're a groundsman in Pakistan sadly).
The last twelve months have provided much to satisfy the pessimist or increase the lugubrious feeling many cricket lovers had developed. The spot-fixing is the first negative that comes to mind - a terrible blight on the game and one that will harm/restrain Pakistan cricket for years. Also the consequences of the Australasian decline have yet to reveal themselves - the last time that both Australia and New Zealand possessed weak teams (at the same time) would have been the mid-1950s when England was the best side in the world (I imagine they will have competition from both South Africa and India for that position in the next twelve months or so). The affects of the ICC Presidency controversy will likely appear a little less obviously than the former two memories of 2010. This has barely been mentioned with the spot-fixing problem rightly being the priority for now, but this issue is not finished with I fear and one of my goals for 2011 will be to follow the politics of cricket more closely
The big negative prediction for 2010 was that test cricket would continue to die - and if you followed cricket primarily through newspapers and television news you might be forgiven for thinking that this came true - but the pleasant surprise was the resilience with which the pure form of the game has moved into a new era instead of the grave. Close matches like the draws during the England-South Africa series at the beginning of the year set the tone. Then came the Australian victory over Pakistan in Sydney (although this match has been heavily questioned after the spot-fixing reported later in the year) and finally the tense 1-wicket win by India over Australia that (I'm pretty sure) brought down the Cricinfo website during the final overs of the chase.
A key to test cricket's survival was and will always be the continuation of hard-fought contests especially during a period of relatively weak player ranks (such as now - 750+ runs for Alastair Cook in Australia? Glenn McGrath must be going grey). Another major help is the success of individual players that capture the public imagination, for me the following events stand out for the year:

• Ross Taylor scoring the fastest century for a New Zealand player - against Australia thankfully because the previous holder (Vettori) scored his against Zimbabwe
• Muttiah Muralitharan's 800 wickets by getting the required 8 in his final match - a record that surely won't be broken for many years to come
• Chris Gayle's 333 against Sri Lanka - it is no secret that the West Indies could use a boost
• Kane Williamson's debut century in India - the New Zealand cricket-loving public breathed again
• England win a series in Australia after 24 years - Australia have had their time and now it will be interesting to see if England can fill the vacuum created by the demise of this great team

Test cricket looks safe for now although it's attendance numbers have decreased, boards like the one in New Zealand got the message and moved their fixtures to smaller, more comfortable grounds where test matches work better anyway

Other highlights of 2010 (from a New Zealand point of view)

• Brendon McCullum's double century against India
• Brendon McCullum's 2020 century against Australia
• Chris Martin producing a spell of brilliance to take 5-63 against India
• Shane Bond's retirement, which at first depressed most of us as the prospect of a bowling attack led by Kyle-130kph-he-wish-Mills or his clones Tuffey and Arnel seemed real, but the appearance of new fast-bowling talent in the 2010-11 domestic season has assuaged these fears somewhat

The best of the bizarre from 2010

• The first entries onto the neutral honours board at Lords were Shane Watson and Marcus North for their BOWLING if you can believe it
• Anybody remember the heavy roller moving about in the wind at the Basin Reserve?
• Harbhajan Singh scoring two centuries in one series after scoring none during his entire career up until that point (although this last one leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth)

For me the following points were the best from 2010

• Tamim Iqbal's blazing century at Lords which included one of the finest pull strokes I've ever seen not to mention snubbing all those MCC members who have looked down on Bangladesh as irredeemable in test cricket
• The form of Sachin Tendulkar which allowed him to collect more runs than he had in any other year, score his 50th test century and make 200 in an ODI - the first person to do so

In terms of this blog, almost 1500 views were recorded in 2010 so I thank you my readers for your continued support. Here are what I consider to be my five favourite posts from the last year - the sign of any successful serial is a clip-show after all

1. http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2010/05/end-of-dream.html (End of the Dream - talks about how no team can now gain test status if 2020 cricket is their entry into cricket)
2. http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2010/05/breakfast-in-america.html (Breakfast in America - talks about New Zealand Cricket's move into the USA and how this may benefit us in the future)
3. http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2010/07/rising-above-melee.html (Rising above the melee - compares Murali and Warne)
4. http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2010/08/fighting-words.html (Fighting words - conveys my thoughts regarding the controversy over the ICC presidency this year)
5. http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2010/09/acting-function-of-rear-end-of-male-cow.html (This was one of my favourite entries and looks at the fallout from the spot-fixing in England including the look backwards at the Sydney test between AUS and PAK plus my thoughts on certain articles that were written in NZ on the matter)

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now