An edited version of this piece has been published here on ESPNcricinfo.
Cricket is almost unique amongst team sports where the focus is as much on the individual as on the team. Whether its the inordinate focus on stats and records or the fact that the game is ultimately an individual contest between a bowler and a batsman, cricket's very different from football, hockey, rugby and most other team games in that respect. And that almost automatically means that all fans of the sport have their favourite players that they look forward to watching and following more than some others. These affinities are formed for reasons that are mostly hard to explain, especially when it comes to players who are new and just making their way in the game. And its greatly rewarding as a follower of the game when these newbies start to convert their promise into performance. I'm no different from most fans in this respect and the 2013/14 season (so far) has been brilliant as three young batsmen I've keenly followed for the last two or three years appear to have finally established themselves as definite stars of the future.
Kane Williamson is the youngest of the three but in my view he'll likely end up the best. The first time I watched him bat was on his Test debut in Ahmedabad. Walking out with the Kiwis at 137 for 4 (in response to India's 487), he batted as though he'd been facing spinners of the calibre of Harbhajan and Ojha all his life and walked off almost 100 overs later having taken his team to a safe score and also top scoring with 131 in the process. A move up the order followed shortly and brought some struggles with it but his next two hundreds were again very fine innings, the first earning NZ a draw against Steyn, Philander, Morkel and de Lange and the second setting up a rare away victory in Sri Lanka. But its this season that he's really come into his own and made the No. 3 spot his own. His 10 innings this season have brought scores of 114, 74, 62, 45, 58, 56, 113, 3, 47, and 7 for an average of 57.9. If he manages to maintain one even 10 runs less than that for the rest of his career he'll comfortably end up amongst the all time best Kiwi batsmen. What's been equally impressive (and more unexpected) is how he's gone about adapting his game to the one-day format and after a slowish start against the West Indies, reeled off five successive fifties against India. The fact that his technique and shot making is so pleasing is a bonus.
Pleasing would not be high on the list of words used to describe Steven Smith's technique but ever since his comeback to the side in India early in 2013, he's shown that a strong temperament and awareness of your own game go much further in run-making ability than just a pristine technique. He's scored four hundreds in his last seven matches and each time he has arrived at the crease with Australia three or four wickets down and less than 150 on the board (less than 100 in two instances). For someone who started out as one of the long list of spinning hopes to fill the Warney-void rather than a middle-order rock, its not a bad turnaround at all. Smith's confidence is now apparent when he strides to the crease and there was an assurance about him in his latest knock against the Springboks that suggests future captaincy material for Australia. His ODI and T20 records don't make for great reading at the moment but no doubt he'll turn those around too sooner than later.
In terms of international experience, Ajinkya Rahane's a fledgling when compared to Williamson and Smith despite being a couple of years older. He did make his first class debut earlier than the other two and its baffling it took the retirement of Tendulkar for someone who averages 60+ in first class cricket over more than 60 games to finally get a proper chance. Having been a keen follower of the Mumbai lad for a while, its been very rewarding to see him grab his chances and end up as the second highest run scorer for the team across the twin series in SA and NZ (behind Kohli). He might have come late to the party but I have no doubt that he'll join the ranks of Kohli and Pujara pretty soon as the backbone of India's Test batting line-up ahead of his fellow Mumbaikar, Rohit Sharma. It would also be good to see him get a longer run in the ODI XI, especially given the next World Cup will be overseas needing solid back-foot players.
At the other end of the spectrum are three cricketers who I've never taken much of a fancy to and had more or less written off, but who have in this 2013/14 season proved that I'm quite useless when it comes to assessing ability. And while its always humbling to be proved so grossly wrong, its another aspect of sports that endears itself to me, especially as all these gents are on the wrong side of the 30s.
After "homework gate" and his limp performance in the last Test against India in the 0-4 defeat early last year, if anyone had told me that Mitchell Johnson would claim 49 wickets in his next six Tests (at the incredulous average of 13 and a strike rate of less than 30) I would have asked them to take a trip to the CIP in MS Dhoni's hometown. As it is, Johnson has obliterated Cook and his men (ending the careers of Pietersen and potentially Trott) and is now threatening to do the same to Smith and co on their home turf. And though the one-day game hasn't seem him as consistently a match-winner he's finally starting to demonstrate what Dennis Lillee meant when he called him a once-in-a-lifetime bowler. Like his mentor though, his record in Asia is staggeringly poor and (unlike Lillee) its not so hot in England and the West Indies either. Until he corrects at least one of those, I would hesitate to class him as an all time great and certainly not ahead of Wasim Akram!
Brad Haddin is the second Aussie in the midst of a golden comeback and arguably was as influential as Johnson in ensuring the Ashes returned down under. After Matthew Wade's second Test hundred, Haddin was lucky to get back into the Australian side in my opinion but he's repaid Lehmann and Clarke's faith in his experience in spades. 55 catches, nearly 700 runs (with at least four match turning knocks) and his on-field support make him my MVP for Australia at the moment. At 36, he probably won't be around much longer and like Johnson, his record away from the familiar environs of the Antipodes is quite poor but no one will every be able to take away from the stellar season he's having now.
To come in with your team nearly 200 runs behind with just seven wickets (and over half the match) remaining and scoring the first triple hundred for your country and earning a draw (and series win) is a staggering feat. To do so as captain and fighting your naturally attacking instincts (and a dodgy back) is nothing short of awe-inspiring. For a long time, I didn't rate Brendon McCullum as a Test match cricketer given his tendency to throw his wicket away so often. In the last two years though he's really started to show a different level of hunger and averages more than five runs more than his career average and is finally beginning to scale heights his talent has always indicated. All the accolades he's getting are richly deserved and if his knock (and recent performances) can inspire a new generation of Kiwis much like Laxman and Dravid did for India in Kolkata in 2001, NZ cricket would have been well served by their current captain.
So there you have it. Six men that have made my cricket watching this season a great joy. Here's to finding six more every season!
Cricket is almost unique amongst team sports where the focus is as much on the individual as on the team. Whether its the inordinate focus on stats and records or the fact that the game is ultimately an individual contest between a bowler and a batsman, cricket's very different from football, hockey, rugby and most other team games in that respect. And that almost automatically means that all fans of the sport have their favourite players that they look forward to watching and following more than some others. These affinities are formed for reasons that are mostly hard to explain, especially when it comes to players who are new and just making their way in the game. And its greatly rewarding as a follower of the game when these newbies start to convert their promise into performance. I'm no different from most fans in this respect and the 2013/14 season (so far) has been brilliant as three young batsmen I've keenly followed for the last two or three years appear to have finally established themselves as definite stars of the future.
Kane Williamson is the youngest of the three but in my view he'll likely end up the best. The first time I watched him bat was on his Test debut in Ahmedabad. Walking out with the Kiwis at 137 for 4 (in response to India's 487), he batted as though he'd been facing spinners of the calibre of Harbhajan and Ojha all his life and walked off almost 100 overs later having taken his team to a safe score and also top scoring with 131 in the process. A move up the order followed shortly and brought some struggles with it but his next two hundreds were again very fine innings, the first earning NZ a draw against Steyn, Philander, Morkel and de Lange and the second setting up a rare away victory in Sri Lanka. But its this season that he's really come into his own and made the No. 3 spot his own. His 10 innings this season have brought scores of 114, 74, 62, 45, 58, 56, 113, 3, 47, and 7 for an average of 57.9. If he manages to maintain one even 10 runs less than that for the rest of his career he'll comfortably end up amongst the all time best Kiwi batsmen. What's been equally impressive (and more unexpected) is how he's gone about adapting his game to the one-day format and after a slowish start against the West Indies, reeled off five successive fifties against India. The fact that his technique and shot making is so pleasing is a bonus.
Pleasing would not be high on the list of words used to describe Steven Smith's technique but ever since his comeback to the side in India early in 2013, he's shown that a strong temperament and awareness of your own game go much further in run-making ability than just a pristine technique. He's scored four hundreds in his last seven matches and each time he has arrived at the crease with Australia three or four wickets down and less than 150 on the board (less than 100 in two instances). For someone who started out as one of the long list of spinning hopes to fill the Warney-void rather than a middle-order rock, its not a bad turnaround at all. Smith's confidence is now apparent when he strides to the crease and there was an assurance about him in his latest knock against the Springboks that suggests future captaincy material for Australia. His ODI and T20 records don't make for great reading at the moment but no doubt he'll turn those around too sooner than later.
In terms of international experience, Ajinkya Rahane's a fledgling when compared to Williamson and Smith despite being a couple of years older. He did make his first class debut earlier than the other two and its baffling it took the retirement of Tendulkar for someone who averages 60+ in first class cricket over more than 60 games to finally get a proper chance. Having been a keen follower of the Mumbai lad for a while, its been very rewarding to see him grab his chances and end up as the second highest run scorer for the team across the twin series in SA and NZ (behind Kohli). He might have come late to the party but I have no doubt that he'll join the ranks of Kohli and Pujara pretty soon as the backbone of India's Test batting line-up ahead of his fellow Mumbaikar, Rohit Sharma. It would also be good to see him get a longer run in the ODI XI, especially given the next World Cup will be overseas needing solid back-foot players.
At the other end of the spectrum are three cricketers who I've never taken much of a fancy to and had more or less written off, but who have in this 2013/14 season proved that I'm quite useless when it comes to assessing ability. And while its always humbling to be proved so grossly wrong, its another aspect of sports that endears itself to me, especially as all these gents are on the wrong side of the 30s.
After "homework gate" and his limp performance in the last Test against India in the 0-4 defeat early last year, if anyone had told me that Mitchell Johnson would claim 49 wickets in his next six Tests (at the incredulous average of 13 and a strike rate of less than 30) I would have asked them to take a trip to the CIP in MS Dhoni's hometown. As it is, Johnson has obliterated Cook and his men (ending the careers of Pietersen and potentially Trott) and is now threatening to do the same to Smith and co on their home turf. And though the one-day game hasn't seem him as consistently a match-winner he's finally starting to demonstrate what Dennis Lillee meant when he called him a once-in-a-lifetime bowler. Like his mentor though, his record in Asia is staggeringly poor and (unlike Lillee) its not so hot in England and the West Indies either. Until he corrects at least one of those, I would hesitate to class him as an all time great and certainly not ahead of Wasim Akram!
Brad Haddin is the second Aussie in the midst of a golden comeback and arguably was as influential as Johnson in ensuring the Ashes returned down under. After Matthew Wade's second Test hundred, Haddin was lucky to get back into the Australian side in my opinion but he's repaid Lehmann and Clarke's faith in his experience in spades. 55 catches, nearly 700 runs (with at least four match turning knocks) and his on-field support make him my MVP for Australia at the moment. At 36, he probably won't be around much longer and like Johnson, his record away from the familiar environs of the Antipodes is quite poor but no one will every be able to take away from the stellar season he's having now.
To come in with your team nearly 200 runs behind with just seven wickets (and over half the match) remaining and scoring the first triple hundred for your country and earning a draw (and series win) is a staggering feat. To do so as captain and fighting your naturally attacking instincts (and a dodgy back) is nothing short of awe-inspiring. For a long time, I didn't rate Brendon McCullum as a Test match cricketer given his tendency to throw his wicket away so often. In the last two years though he's really started to show a different level of hunger and averages more than five runs more than his career average and is finally beginning to scale heights his talent has always indicated. All the accolades he's getting are richly deserved and if his knock (and recent performances) can inspire a new generation of Kiwis much like Laxman and Dravid did for India in Kolkata in 2001, NZ cricket would have been well served by their current captain.
So there you have it. Six men that have made my cricket watching this season a great joy. Here's to finding six more every season!
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