The best, the worst, the Warne-derful

Best Test innings: In a year where pitches sussed out the good from the great, two performances stand out. When Karachi decided to become 1980s Headingley one January morning, Kamran Akmal stroked, from the wreckage of 39 for six, one of the finest counter-attacking hundreds seen in Pakistan. Then, in Jamaica in July, India and West Indies were confronted with a pitch so strange, nobody could figure it out. Except, of course, Rahul Dravid, whose two immaculately conceived fifties led to a famous win.

Best Test bowling performance: Mohammad Asif's 11 for 71 at Kandy in April 2006 began with a ten-over spell on the first morning where he dismissed Tharanga, Jayasuriya and Jayawardene conceding only 21 runs. The ball moved both ways off the seam to give him his first-five wicket haul on day one and his second on day two. Pakistan won by eight wickets.

Best ODI Innings: You have to chase 435 at over eight an over against the world's best attack. And Mick Lewis. What do you do? If you're Herschelle Gibbs, you plunder 175 from 111 balls. Not that he knew how it happened: "I don't know where that innings came from; I don't think I've played better." Ricky Ponting thought it so "amazing", he handed over his share of the match award, which is saying something from a man who made a trifling 164 off 105 balls himself.

Best ODI bowling performance: Makhaya Ntini had a sparkling year but few moments were as bright as his annihilation of Australia at Cape Town. Chasing 290, the world's leading team was reduced to 7 for 4, halfway through the 10th over, Ntini's pace, bounce, angle and relentless energy accounting for Adam Gilchrist, Phil Jaques and Damien Martyn. He ended with six from less than ten overs, Australia crashing to 93 all out, only the fourth time they have been dismissed for under 100 in an ODI.

Best Test match: Sri Lanka's one-wicket victory against South Africa at Colombo, involving the sixth-highest run chase in Test history. At lunch on Day 5, South Africa smelt a chance to level when Jayawardene fell at 341 for 7 and the eighth wicket fell five overs later. Sri Lanka needed four runs to win and Murali scored two of them before being bowled by Andrew Hall. Eventually Lanka scrambled home, defying predictions of a tied Test. Other great matches include Australia's Ashes run-chase at Adelaide completed with just three overs left.

Best Test series: England v Sri Lanka: At the end of day two of the first Test, Sri Lanka were 91 for 6 trailing by 460 runs and it looked like a series lost. Jayawardene led the fightback with a second consecutive century at Lord's. Murali's ten wickets in the second Test and Michael Vandort's second-innings century couldn't overshadow Pietersen's 142 and England were safely up 1-0. But the third Test was the wonder - a 134-run win for Sri Lanka riding on Murali's 8 for 70 in the second innings with England needing 325. In his last Test in England Murali got Sri Lanka a first-ever series draw (played two Tests or more) in the country

Best ODI match: Like overloading on chocolate, the run-scoring bordered on the sick (even Graeme Smith called the win "a bit sick") and sure the pitch was flatter than last New Year's bubbly, but can you argue against a game in which 434 is successfully chased (the highest chase ever in any international by the way, Test or ODI), with only a ball and a wicket to spare. To decide an ODI series that stood at 2-2? We think not.

Best ODI series: Ingredients required - a D/L win, a great fast bowling performance (Makhaya Ntini's 6 for 21), a captain's redemption song (Graeme Smith's first-match hundred), a comeback from 2-0 down, a moderate-scoring, last-over one-wicket win and an unbelievably high-scoring, last-over one-wicket win. To decide the series 3-2. And a Pro20 international decided by two runs to start it all off. Just reading that should give you goosebumps.

Catch of the year: Old age and a lifetime bowling fast make good fielders not? Clearly Shaun Pollock never heard the adage. When MS Dhoni slapped a drive on the second morning of the first Test at Johannesburg, naturally most eyes were already on the boundary hoardings. They should have been on Pollock, who flung himself to his left at mid-off, full-stretch, to snatch and hold the ball in his left hand, despite a heavy landing.

Run-out of the year: Ricky Ponting running out Geraint Jones on the final day at Perth neatly encapsulated the difference between the two sides. Jones attempted a sweep, ball struck pad and as he froze, Australians appealed. Except Ponting, who pounced in a flash with an underarm flick from silly point, catching Jones outside the crease. He sprinted to midwicket celebrating, Jones ambled back contemplating the final act of his career. Over to The Guardian who anointed the moment thus: "So there, in the blink of an eye, we saw the haplessness of one side and the brilliant opportunism of the other."

Most thrilling shot-making: Could Brian Lara have been the greatest dancer the world has ever seen, had he not been one of its greatest batsmen? What might have been was glimpsed at Multan, when he twinkled, jigged, waltzed and tangoed in taking 26 runs off one Danish Kaneria over: three consecutive sixes between long-off and midwicket sandwiched between two fours. Kaneria bamboozled others, Lara just grooved, at one stage, taking 60 runs from 29 Kaneria balls.

Best finish: Note to Mashrafe Mortaza: Do not attempt a yorker off the last ball of the match when a boundary is needed. Chetan Sharma did it and failed, Steve Waugh did it and failed and Dion Nash did it and failed. With five needed, he did it anyway and duly failed, Brendon Taylor emulating Javed Miandad, Asif Mujtaba and Lance Klusener before him to decide the match with a last-ball six.

Hottest streak of the year: The anguish of losing out on a potential contract with Gillette out of the way, Mohammad Yousuf embarked on a year of run-making unlike any other cricket has known. Pitches flat and lively, attacks insipid and inspired, home or away mattered not a jot as Yousuf glided to a record nine hundreds for the year (in 11 Tests) and a record-breaking 1788 Test runs. Streaks don't come hotter.

Best comeback: At the start of the year, putting money on Saddam Hussein coming back as President of Iraq was wiser investment than Sourav Ganguly returning to the Indian side so fractious was the fall-out from his axing. But so wretched was India's top-order that no choice remained after a series of collapses in South Africa. Reviled and revered equally, Ganguly was recalled, responding with 81 in a warm-up and then a plucky, unbeaten 51 in the first Test. Despite a duck in the second Test, he ended his year in considerably better spirit than Saddam.

Mismatch of the year: The Thr-Ashes. 'Nuff said.

Almost Famous: Can you drop history, like you can a World Cup? Ask Mashrafe Mortaza. Australia needed 24 runs to win the first Test against Bangladesh at Fatullah, but only had three wickets when Mortaza dropped Ricky Ponting, thus denying Test cricket its greatest upset. The skipper's hundred led them home but what a fantastic scare. Shahriar Nafees, who had bludgeoned an audacious 138 on the opening day (Bangladesh blasted 355 runs) and Mohammad Rafique, who took nine wickets, deserved better.

Most unlikely hero: "Who wouldn't want to bowl at 90-plus miles an hour? But not everyone is blessed with that talent. I just worked with what I had." So said Ian Bradshaw, the most unassuming fast-medium bowler since New Zealand's 1992 World Cup dobblers. Over the year, there were few better ODI bowlers; economical (went for over five an over only six times in 26 games, but under four 14 times) and forthcoming with wickets (36). What he had, clearly, was enough. And then some.

Most poignant moment: Tears at the Wanderers when South Africa finally threw the last, knockout punch of the 872-run slogathon against Australia. You didn't know the hardened South Africans could actually cry, did you? Then again, maybe they'd just run out of beer...

Newcomer of the year: If he had done nothing but sport his patka, bowl left-arm lollipops and appear for England, he would've been a contender but by dint of actually being quite good, Monty Panesar was a shoo-in. Right from the illustrious first wicket, through five-wicket hauls against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, occasional comedy in the field and a belated but joyous Ashes debut, this has been the year of Monty. Mind you, his coach might disagree.

Best act of sportsmanship: Nothing to match Flintoff and Lee, so we turn to something offbeat: Australia's quartet of retirements at the end of the year, giving England crumbs of comfort for the 2009 Ashes. Warney, Marto, Pidge and "Alfie" Langer - take a bow.

Best effort in a losing game: Forty-two of Ricky Ponting's 53 international hundreds are winning ones but one of the few that isn't was also one of his best, a violent, slog-free 164, off only 105 balls in that freaky ODI at the Wanderers. In making 100 off 71 balls, he hit nine sixes, evoking memories of his World Cup final blast on the same ground three years earlier. Any other match, any other year, it would've been the innings. On this day, it ended barely second-best.

Drop of the year: Remember when the Ashes were still alive? Early December, England bounce back from a first Test hammering to declare at 551. Australia fall to 78 for three, series breathes. Then Ponting pulls to deep square leg, when 35, and Ashley Giles drops a clanger. Lucky for him, he was too far away to hear Ponting echo Waugh's "you've just dropped the..." It was later confirmed that yes Giles was picked ahead of Monty for his better fielding. To quote Homer Simpson: 'Doh'.

Riposte of the year: Sledging back at him doesn't work, staring him down doesn't do it and ignoring him hasn't done the trick so how do you shut up Andre Nel's annoying, mouthy, harrying? You break-dance back at him. It helps, if like Sreesanth, you can break-dance. Oh, and it helps especially that having been sledged for backing away, you smack the next ball straight down the park for six. Touche, sir.

Butter-fingered performances of the year - When Sri Lanka were out for 192 at lunch on the third day at Lord's, they were still over 350 runs behind England, in need of some grit, some fortune and generosity. They got all three, courtesy Mahela Jayawardene's century and England's fielders. England shelled nine chances through the Test, including Jayawardene in the second innings on 58. Had they held onto them, they might have won the Test twice over. Imran Farhat almost outdid them through the year, dropping only a few catches less than the runs he scored.

Best wicket-taking celebrations of the year - Monty Panesar's awkward bhangra meets jive meets rave celebrations were fun, but nobody could outdo the celebrations of the coolest man in cricket, Chris Gayle. He had variety: one minute, he stood absolutely still, arms folded, stroking chin while manic team-mates engulfed him, and then walked away bewildered. The next, he did a little jig to the left, then to the right and kept at it. He also gave his take on Ronaldo's superbly bizarre 'arm crossed against forehead'. There was still time for the ol' windmilling of the arm; wickets falling were just no fun until Gayle was taking them.

Widest wides of the year:Take your pick between Steve Harmison and, err...Steve Harmison. The first came at Old Trafford against Pakistan, where instead of bowling to Imran Farhat, he bowled one straight to second slip. Four months and a continent made little difference: he opened the Ashes by giving Andrew Flintoff at second slip some catching practice, though as Freddie laconically observed later, "I'd rather it had come off the edge."

Short-lived retirement of the year: Sanath Jayasuriya's was pretty short, stepping away from Tests - or being pushed, according to the chairman of selectors - for merely a month and a half over the summer. But as in the battle for the fastest ODI hundred, he had to be content with second place, behind Shahid Afridi, who retired from Tests for all of 15 days and didn't actually miss a Test, thereby maintaining a glorious Pakistani tradition of not knowing when to go. Or indeed whether to go at all.

With Langer, Warne, McGrath and Martyn exiting, Australia will look at Hussey and Clark to fulfill roles of senior players © Getty Images

Mass exodus of the year: Over three Tests, Australia said goodbye to Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer; for most teams that constitutes losing a spine. Australia though still have the likes of Hussey and Clark to fall back on, so evoking 1983, when Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee all called time at once and sparked a sharp decline, may prove a little hasty. Still, that is a sudden loss of 438 Tests' worth of experience, 15780 runs and 1265 wickets. Ouch.

Quietest retirements of the year: Steve Harmison did what England as a team wish they could do: bid adieu entirely to ODIs. Not that it is likely to make much of a difference: though he picked up 14 wickets in eight matches this year, he gave away near six runs an over and almost 60 runs in wides and no-balls. Particularly memorable was conceding 97 from ten overs against Sri Lanka and what is now his last ODI: 4.5-0-45-1. Apparently, not even holding an ODI in his backyard in Ashington will lure him back.

Folly of the year: In August, Duncan Fletcher called Monty Panesar the best finger-spinner in the world. By November, he wasn't even the best finger-spinner in England, losing his place for the first Ashes Test to Ashley Giles, match-less for a year, because of his weaker batting and fielding. In two Tests, Giles took three wickets at 87. He scored 74 runs, took one catch and dropped a critical one. By popular demand Panesar returned for the third Test and snared eight wickets in the graveyard of spin that is Perth. Rearrange: Egg. Fletcher. Face. On.

Biggest u-turn of the year: Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif test positive for steroids. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif get banned for testing positive. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have their bans for testing positive completely overturned, pleading ignorance. That is no defence anywhere in the world, apart from the PCB's anti-doping policy. Incidentally, the man who exonerated them, Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, also cleared Salim Malik of all match-fixing charges initially. Clearly, all kosher there.

Worst umpiring decision: Only proponents of technology in sport could be happy with the year umpires have had. For one, Hawkeye would never have done what Darrell Hair did in August with a tap of the shoulder and a flick of the bails. Or been as pig-headed about its decision. By penalising Pakistan for ball-tampering, he played with the pride of a country. But by overseeing the forfeit of a Test, he did worse: he offended cricket's traditionalists. Never have two decisions correct in law been so calamitously wrong in spirit.

Brinkmanship of the year: Modi v ICC. Media rights and the Members' Participation Agreement had the BCCI challenging the ICC's authority and quoting quotable quotes. Final result - India signed the MPA and withdrew its bid for media rights for the World Cup 2011. But the board flexed enough muscle that anyone planning to take it on would think twice and be guaranteed one solid headache.

Dramatic near-fallout: Shane Warne nearly decapitated Kevin Pietersen when throwing the ball back in frustration during the Adelaide Test, as Australia reverted to macho type, having touchy-feely-ed their way through 2005. Nightclub owners around the world shivered at the prospect of the duo splitting, in a way they hadn't since Sonny and Cher fell out. Which cricketer will now frequent our establishments, they fretted? Once best mates, Warne was, in classic schoolboy-confrontation tactics, now called "a dickhead." Thankfully, mature men that they are both "chatted at the end of the Test and got over it." Thus was guaranteed another chapter in their new autobiographies titled, imaginatively, 'KP' and 'Warney'.

Best running battle of a series: Mohammad Asif versus KP through late summer, Shane Warne versus KP through the Ashes and Murali versus KP at Edgbaston - basically being Kevin Pietersen this year meant being targeted. But he's not a lone ranger, no. Perish the thought.

Spectacular fall from grace: Irfan Pathan took a hat-trick in the first over of a Test to start the year. He then had a personality crisis: was he an opening bowler or first change, an Akram or a Vaas, a batting allrounder or a bowling one, was he an allrounder at all or just a one-down who occasionally bowls? By the end, he was none, sent back home from South Africa, having received more 'advice' than a patient in therapy.

Comic dismissals: Inzamam-ul-Haq is a funny man in most situations; running, fielding, press conferences. This year he was funny getting out too. First, he immaculately patted back a throw from a fielder trying to run him out. Given out obstructing the field, Inzi first pleaded ignorance, "I don't understand the rules and am not sure why I was given out," before sagely concluding Indo-Pak relations might suffer as a result of "poor sportsmanship." Then, in August, trying to sweep Monty Panesar, he overbalanced and fell over, trying gamely to avoid the stumps. That he couldn't quite get his leg over (guffaw) wasn't entirely accurate (it was actually his belly). Chris Read narrowly avoided injury though poor Inzi had to have x-rays on a bruised chest. None, we trust, were needed for the ego.

Partnership of the year: KP and Jessica whatsit from whatsit X were in contention, but ultimately who could deny Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene's gi-normous 624-run stand against South Africa in July? They came in at peril, their side 14 for 2 in the fourth over of their innings, but then didn't separate for over ten hours and 157 overs. It was the highest partnership in first-class cricket by a distance and Jayawardene's 374 was the highest Test score by a right-handed batsman. The icing on a hefty cake was that they are best mates too.

Best sledge of the year: Shane Warne calling the mousy, almost-ginger Ian Bell 'The Shermanator', in reference to the geeky, really-ginger 'American Pie' geek. Bell retorted that he'd heard worse, though really he should've questioned Warne's surprisingly highbrow cinematic taste. Alas, it was a poor year for clever sledges, Warne also telling Paul Collingwood, imaginatively, that he was "no good" and that Geraint Jones was a "club pro." Shahid Afridi, earlier in the year, was merciless with Irfan Pathan, though involving as it did body parts and balls, we can't actually publish it.

Cruelest cut of the year: Imagine scoring a maiden double hundred, taking three for 11, being voted man of the match and player of the series and not making it to the line-up for your country's next Test. Jason Gillespie could scarcely have done more to redeem himself in the eyes of Australia after a horrific 2005 Ashes series. He even cut his mullet for chrissake and yet when time came for the Ashes, Dizzy was nowhere to be seen.