2014 Cricket Review: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 2014

2014 Cricket Review: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Another cricketing year has come to its end. Many runs were scored this year too, many wickets were taken, many outstanding catches were taken, many moments needed our attention, and there were many individual performances that caught everyone’s attentions, but it the team’s performance that matters in the end.

Individual records are made by individuals and stay with the player. These individuals combine to make a team’s effort and if this effort results in a victory then all is well and good. In this year’s review, we will look at how each team faired in every format of the game. Who emerged as a leader and who showed no fight and resilience?

Test Matches:

It’s the mother of every format. Only 10 nations play this, so the competition is fierce. New Zealand and Australia came out the top sides this year. Sri Lanka too won as many as them but they needed 2 more Tests than both the leaders took. The number of wins New Zealand managed this year is the MOST they ever managed in their history. So is the number for Bangladesh. 2014 was the first time they won a Test series white-washing their opponent. The biggest shocker of the year was India’s performance. It was tough for them, as they didn’t play a single test at their home, but their record was even far from average. They won only 1 in their 10 attempts, which is their lowest number of wins in a calendar year since 2003 when they managed the same, 1 win but in lesser matches – which even forced the big man MSD to give up his Test captaincy.

ODI Matches:

In the 50-over version of the game, there was no team as dominant as Sri Lanka was (apart from their shameful white-wash in India) in 2014. They played 32 and won 20, lost 12. First the Asia Cup, then a series win in England, their first ever in history, and then another series win over England at home, Sri Lanka was un-beatable. Next best was India with 14 wins in 24 games who picked up their pace after losing 4 on the trot to New Zealand in New Zealand. But the best team statically was Team Australia; they played 18 and won 13 while losing only 5 (3 of them to South Africa). Shocking as it may appear but Afghanistan won as many matches this year as Pakistan did but in lesser matches. A punch right back in the face for Pakistan as they are thought to be the ones who taught cricket to the Afghans. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe were as usual below average losing more matches than they won. England were the worst team this year with 16 defeats from 25 matches – MOST they ever LOST in a calendar year, jointly with 2007 (16 from 30) & 2011 (16 from 34). Papua New Guinea, the latest entrant to the ODI fraternity, won all 2 of their 2 ODIs in 2014 – a World Record for any team to win its first two matches from debut.

T20I Matches:

The most unpredictable format of the game T20s didn’t had un-expected results this year apart from some upsets. Australia came out at the top with 9 wins from 13 games but Sri Lanka, like in the ODIs, bossed this format as well, with winning the WT20 for the first time in history. England were disastrous in the T20s as well, losing 9 of their 12 matches this year – worst performance by any team in a whole calendar year since Pakistan lost 12 in 2010.

CricTracker wishes 2015 may come good for each and every team in the cricket world and fans get more and fearsome cricket throughout the coming days and months.