What you will notice immediately on this list is that a) 6 Australians feature on it and b) no English players do. In a season when England beat Australia in the Ashes, performed admirably in South Africa and are presently on a run of 6 consecutive test wins I find this frankly amazing. Especially when you consider that Australia lost a series to England and drew one against Pakistan.
Looking at the players what I also find amazing is why some of them are there at all. Bearing in mind the Cricketer of the Year Award takes into account performances in test match, ODI and 20/20 cricket why then is Ryan Harris with his 53 wickets in 21 matches - mostly against an appalling Pakistan side - and Dale Steyn with 65 wickets in 29 games on the list and not Broad (78 in 37 matches) Anderson (76 in 31), many against South Africa and Australia, or even Mohammed Amir who at the tender age of 18 has collected 65 victims in only 29 matches largely against Australia and England? Similarly how come Daniel Vettori makes the list with 1151 runs and 64 wickets and not Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh whose 64 wickets and 1103 runs were all earned against far superior opposition. And why are AB de Villiers 1746 runs in 41 innings deemed more worthy of inclusion that Jayawardene's 1836 in the same amount of knocks (and with the weight of captaincy on his shoulder), or Dilshan's 1926 in 48 innings. Most unbelievable of all however, is Graeme Swann's exclusion. With 93 wickets, many of which were against Australia and South Africa, and current number 3 ranking in the world what more did he need to do to deserve being featured on the list other than being born in Australia?
In case you were wondering the long list was devised by a five-man selection panel chaired by Clive Lloyd, chairman of the ICC cricket committee and including former international players Angus Fraser, Matthew Hayden, Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher and the awards ceremony will be held in Bangalore on October 6. For the record I think Shane Watson the leading run scorer during that time with 2497 runs and 79 wickets at 22.64 SHOULD be crowned Cricketer of the Year.
Being an Australian he probably will.
AB de Villiers sings a Hindi song - Yeh Dosti... by sherryboy420
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4915169
Looking at the players what I also find amazing is why some of them are there at all. Bearing in mind the Cricketer of the Year Award takes into account performances in test match, ODI and 20/20 cricket why then is Ryan Harris with his 53 wickets in 21 matches - mostly against an appalling Pakistan side - and Dale Steyn with 65 wickets in 29 games on the list and not Broad (78 in 37 matches) Anderson (76 in 31), many against South Africa and Australia, or even Mohammed Amir who at the tender age of 18 has collected 65 victims in only 29 matches largely against Australia and England? Similarly how come Daniel Vettori makes the list with 1151 runs and 64 wickets and not Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh whose 64 wickets and 1103 runs were all earned against far superior opposition. And why are AB de Villiers 1746 runs in 41 innings deemed more worthy of inclusion that Jayawardene's 1836 in the same amount of knocks (and with the weight of captaincy on his shoulder), or Dilshan's 1926 in 48 innings. Most unbelievable of all however, is Graeme Swann's exclusion. With 93 wickets, many of which were against Australia and South Africa, and current number 3 ranking in the world what more did he need to do to deserve being featured on the list other than being born in Australia?
In case you were wondering the long list was devised by a five-man selection panel chaired by Clive Lloyd, chairman of the ICC cricket committee and including former international players Angus Fraser, Matthew Hayden, Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher and the awards ceremony will be held in Bangalore on October 6. For the record I think Shane Watson the leading run scorer during that time with 2497 runs and 79 wickets at 22.64 SHOULD be crowned Cricketer of the Year.
Being an Australian he probably will.
AB de Villiers sings a Hindi song - Yeh Dosti... by sherryboy420
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4915169
