From Ashes jubilation to Indian humiliation: English cricket's dramatic 2011



A year in which England won in Australia for the first time since 1986-87, flopped at the World Cup, whitewashed India, were in turn whitewashed by India, but are now No 1 in two of three formats can only mean one thing: a few shamelessly Anglo-centric Top Spin gongs…



Most spine-tingling victory



For sheer unexpectedness, it has to be the Cardiff Test – a passage of 24.4 overs which proved the seam-bowling excellence during the Ashes had been no fluke and sealed a rain-affected series against Sri Lanka.



But for slow-burning drama, nothing could beat Trent Bridge, where India should twice have been out of sight, only to be hauled back on both occasions by Stuart Broad. The England of old would have accepted 1-1 and hoped for the best.



Man of the moment: Broad scored 108 runs and took eight wickets during the Test at Trent Bridge





Most solar plexus-winding defeat



The World Cup loss to Ireland was too joyful an experience to win this one; likewise the defeat to Bangladesh in Chittagong, where the locals' pleasure was a phenomenon in itself. There weren't many other candidates – until England reopened old wounds in India last month.



Amid the 5-0 thrashing, the Mohali ODI stood out (by the time of the Kolkata collapse, the series was already over). At no point did England look like defending a total of 298: the inevitability was crushing.



Most memorable innings

The problem with daddy hundreds is that a casual fan can grow blasé: England's Test batsmen compiled seven scores of 150 or more in 2011, converting four of them into doubles.



None was more monumental than Alastair Cook's 294 at Edgbaston, none more elegant than Ian Bell’s 235 at The Oval, and none more dominant than Kevin Pietersen’s unbeaten 202 at Lord's.



But, irony of ironies, the award goes to a player who has now retired from a format England are not very good at: Andrew Strauss's 158 in the World Cup tie with India in Bangalore may just have been their best ODI knock ever.



Most stirring spell

Broad's once-in-a-lifetime five for none in 16 balls at Trent Bridge – including a hat-trick which had the bonus of exposing the folly of India’s baby-and-bathwater attitude to the DRS – is the obvious candidate.



But it was his performance on the Saturday of the first Test at Lord's which really got the adrenaline flowing. Against Sri Lanka, he had bowled too short. Now, after a championship game with Nottinghamshire, he relocated a fuller length.



After removing both Indian openers in a first spell of 8-2-25-2, he returned to bowl six magical overs for three runs, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, and having both VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid dropped in the slips in the same over. He never looked back – except, occasionally, to appeal for lbw.



Broad appeal: The Notts' seamer enjoyed a wonderful summer against India





Doziest brilliance

OK, so that sounds a little contrived, I'll grant you. But how else were we going to hand out a rosette for Ian Bell's 159 at Trent Bridge? No sooner had he answered questions about his ability to score important runs at No 3, than he was marching off for tea with the ball not yet dead.



Cue a sheepish run-out – and the breaking loose of all hell. Perhaps no one else in world cricket could have descended from the sublime to the ridiculous with such insouciance.



Most compelling adversary

Did anyone else die a little when news broke that Praveen Kumar would be sitting out the Oval Test? So maybe it was just the Top Spin, but anyone who can carve an international career out of opening the bowling at 77mph and preferring the straight six to the forward defensive is going to do just fine.



Also, that ever-present sense of complete outrage! You can't buy it…



Most exemplary #trottsfault

It was a close-run thing between his 105-ball 69 against Ireland in Dublin – a low-scoring game on a club pitch which England ended up winning by 11 runs (definitely Trott's fault); and his 116-ball 98 not out in Mohali, where the fact that he ushered England to what should have been a match-winning 298 for 4 wasn’t enough to spare him the pointed fingers when the bowlers abjectly failed instead. Hell, the Top Spin can’t decide. Personally, I blame Trott.



Blame game: Trott has been in the runs for England all year, but still comes in for flack





Most heartening progress

Not a lot of good came out of the one-day series in India, but the performance of Steven Finn was a reminder that, for seam-bowling bench strength, England remain peerless.



The one bad ball an over that ultimately cost him his place during the Ashes has been reduced to one bad ball every two or three overs, and a summer of first-class cricket generated a rhythm that has added 3mph. Now he's off to New Zealand for a month.



And when England travel to the UAE in January, they will have one hell of a decision to make.



Most disappointing two steps back

Just when you think he's getting close to cracking it, Ravi Bopara does just the opposite. After making 199 runs for three times out in the home one-day series with India, he creaked his way to 80 runs at 16 with a strike-rate of 63 in India itself.



There's no denying the talent. But, as others have found before him, talent alone is never enough.



Bopara: Undoubtedly talented, yet infuriatingly erratic

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