Espncricinfo Awards 2011
 

So please vote and discuss everybody :)

Awards 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

My votes:

Test batting: Michael Clarke 151 vs SA, Capetown
Test bowling: Vernon Philander 5/15 vs AUS, Capetown
ODI batting: MS Dhoni 91* vs SL, world cup final
ODI bowling: Wahab Riaz 5/46 vs India, world cup semi final

My Votes
Test Batting: Clarke's 151 at Cape Town
Test Bowling: Anderson's 5fer at Lords.
ODI Batting: Ponting's century in the WC. (Its a gritty innings so gets points in my book for that.)
ODI Bowling: Broad's 4fer against SA in the WC

I also suspect the awards will end up with some strange results if the standard cricinfo commenter votes.

Tricky.

Test batting: Rahul Dravid 146* 4th test v England at Lords
Test Bowling: Doug Bracewell 6/40 2nd test v Australia at Hobart
ODI batting: Kevin O'Brien 113 v England in the World Cup at Bangalore
ODI bowling: Stuart Broad 4/15 v SA in the World Cup at Chennai

As defensive efforts go, Rahul carrying his bat for 146 in an innings where none of his team-mates made even 50 is pretty special.

Bracewell's spell completely turned the game on its head after Oz looked home and hosed.

O'Brien came in at 111/5 and effectively won the game for Ireland.

Broad took the first two SA wickets and then returned to get the last two just as it looked as if the choke was off.

Replace the test bowling with Steyn's 5-fer against India at Cape Town and that'd be my list.

How much weight should we give performances in close victories, as oppose to those performances that set up a great position straight away, or heroically defeated lone hands?

I can't help but think it's an easy trap to fall into by mixing up how good the performance was with how good the match was.

Test Batting:

1. Michael Clarke 151 v South Africa at Cape Town
2. Kevin Pietersen 202* v India at Lord's
3. Rahul Dravid 117 v England at Nottingham
4. Ian Bell 159 v India at Nottingham
5. Michael Hussey 95 v Sri Lanka at Galle
6. Alastair Cook 189 v Australia at Sydney
7. Rahul Dravid 146* v England at The Oval
8. Michael Clarke 60 v Sri Lanka at Galle
9. David Warner 123* v New Zealand at Hobart
10. Suresh Raina 82 v West Indies at Jamaica

Test Bowling:

1. Stuart Broad 6/46 v India at Nottingham
2. Stuart Broad 4/37 v India at Lord's
3. Vernon Philander 5/15 v Australia at Cape Town
4. Doug Bracewell 6/40 v Australia at Hobart
5. Saeed Ajmal 6/42 v West Indies at Guyana
6. James Anderson 5/65 v India at Lord's
7. Pat Cummins 6/79 v South Africa at Johannesburg
8. Dale Steyn 4/55 v Australia at Cape Town
9. Shane Watson 5/17 v South Africa at Cape Town
10. Ben Hilfenhaus 5/75 v India at Melbourne

Test Batting: Michael Clarke 151 v South Africa at Cape Town
Test Bowling: Dale Steyn 5-75 v India at Cape Town

I've gone for Michael Clarke's 151 v South Africa at Cape Town as it was a difficult pitch to bat on against a very good attack. Looked like he was batting on a different pitch against a different attack to everyone else in the game.

There were quite a lot of contenders for best bowling, which I think is a good sign, but I've gone for Dale Steyn's performance at Cape Town against India. He swung the ball and troubled all the batsmen on the 3rd day and I don't think his figures reflect how well he bowled. Doug Bracewell's 6-40 against Australia a very close second.

ODI Batting: Kevin O'brien 113 v England at Bangalore
ODI Bowling: Stuart Broad v South Africa at Chennai

Kevin O'brien for his stunning knock against a good attack at practically 2 a ball, to win it for Ireland from a position of no hope.

Stuart Broad gets the bowling honours for bowling England to victory in a low scoring thriller.

Can't really think about the T20 performances (there weren't many this year.) JP Duminey at Cape Town against Australia or Kevin Pietersen against India at Kolkata. Ravi Bopara a good shout for bowling performance of the year against the West Indies at the Oval.

Went:

Michael Clarke 151
Doug Bracewell 6/40
Kevin O'Brien 113
Stuart Broad 4/15

Alright my turn

Test batting
Dravid 117.. He was one of the least expected batsman to score as much as he did this time around.. He went through alot to craft that innings..got hit with the ball so many times in a moviing track.

Michael Clark 151.. it was an out of charactor innings by michael clark and that is why maybe most people will vote his innings as one of the best of the year.

Winner
Samarweera.. an Innings that inspired SL to a historic win. considering that he was dropped before the series unfairly.. what a way to come back to the side.

Test Bowling

Ashwin 6-47.. on a debut and when ur team is down and out almost 100 runs behind. To inspire that kind of performance.. it needs at least a mentioning somewhere.

Winner
Vernon Philander 5-15.. your team gets out at 96 runs barely missing a follow on.. You strike back by getting the opposition out for under 50.. sounds almost unreal.

ODI Batting

Winner
Rose Taylor 131*... If you would have told me that NZ would pass 200 runs during the 30th over of this match, I would have laugh out loud.. yes he may have been dropped and got lucky afew times but the fire work that he produced afterwards was brutle. He single handedly finished, killed and destroyed the career of the fastest bowler of the world. Shoaib akhtar was still capable of bowling over 90 mph so you guys know.

ODI bowling.
Shahid Afridi 5-35
defending a total of 200 and when the opposition is only 155 for 4 with two set batsman in the crease. he bowled his team to victory single handedly after batting incredabilly..

Kamran Akmal says Hi.

clarke
cummins
KOB
bresnan (by this point i had gotten bored)

My votes :

Test batting : Michael Clarke 151 vs SA, Capetown
Test bowling : Vernon Philander 5/15 vs AUS, Capetown
ODI batting : Kevin O'Brien 113 vs England, World cup
ODI bowling : Dale Steyn 5fer against India, World cup

My votes:

Clarke 151
Bracewell 6-40
O'Brien 113
Broad 4-15

I'd have Strauss' 158 against India in the World Cup 2nd to O'Brien's innings.