A nice piece

on highs and lows of cricket by Osman Samiuddin

Some excerpts

The best advertisement for Test cricket this year

Test cricket has never been as rowdy as when Virender Sehwag is at the crease. He resurrected his career with a resolute Adelaide hundred but he lit up the year with two outrageous innings. A triple hundred against South Africa at better than a run-a-ball in Chennai was easily the fastest triple ever, managing to enliven what was
otherwise one of the year's dullest Tests. The second capped off one of the best: A ludicrous 68-ball 83 that really made impossible nothing, letting India chase down 387 at the same venue but on a very different pitch.

The most audacious match-winning innings of the year not played by V Sehwag

This year Graeme Smith confirmed his status as one of the best last-innings batsmen ever, leading South Africa to victories in four countries. He started with a 79-ball blitz against the West Indies in Newlands in January, his 85 fairly hunting down a tricky 186. Sixty-two came in a dicier 205-run chase in Dhaka. But the glory lay first in a monumental unbeaten 154 at Edgbaston, chasing 281; a blistering 108 in Perth in the second-highest chase ever; and a calming 75 at the MCG to seal the series. No longer the cocky kid, in 2008 Smith became a man of indomitable will.

The Inzamam-ul-Haq Award for figure of the year

Jesse Ryder. The boy may be fat but the boy can most definitely bat.

Retirements of the year

The quietest but loudest "Just one more things lads' was how one of Indian cricket's most significant figures quietly announced his retirement. Sourav Ganguly signed off with a bang, however, with 324 runs at over 50 against the men he riled the most. No better way of saying he could've played on.

Most statistically satisfying

Stephen Fleming's actual batting was far sexier than his career numbers suggest, but if he had failed to finish with an average of 40, it would've been cricket's greatest injustice since Bradman's 99.94 and Inzi's 49.60. Fortunately, two typically smooth innings (typically, not hundred either) ensured he didn't.

The biggest shoes to fill Those left behind by Anil Kumble and Adam Gilchrist. Both were among the biggest game-breakers their country - and cricket - has seen. Who will be the more difficult to replace: A wicketkeeper-batsman who made 33 international 100s at a strike-rate not far from 100, or a grim-faced leggie with over 600 Test wickets? Will make the search for the next Beefy look like a walk in the park.

Haircut of the year
Ishant Sharma, because he got one.