by John Wisden
ENGLAND PLAYERS IN 2012
LAWRENCE BOOTH
The following 30 players (there were 33 in 2011 and 27 in 2010) appeared for England in the calendar year 2012, when the team played 15 Tests, 15 one-day internationals and 14 Twenty20 internationals. All statistics refer to the full year, not the 2012 season.
JAMES ANDERSON
Lancashire
No bigger compliment came Anderson’s way than Indian captain M. S. Dhoni’s assertion in December that he had been the difference between the sides during the Tests. And if that underplayed – deliberately, perhaps – the role of England’s spinners, then neither was it idle praise. After a slow start to the series, Anderson undermined India at Kolkata with reverse swing, then kept them subdued at Nagpur, where his spell on the third evening was full of heart, skill and athleticism. By then, he had removed Sachin Tendulkar an unprecedented nine times, and he finished the year with 528 international wickets, equalling Ian Botham’s England record. Contrary to the stereotype, the tricky periods had come at home: rested, to his annoyance, for the Edgbaston Test against West Indies, he was comfortably outbowled by Dale Steyn during the defeat by South Africa. But either side of the summer, he got to grips with Asia, taking 30 wickets in nine Tests at under 27 apiece. It was a serious piece of rebranding – more career-redefining even than the 2010-11 Ashes.
14 Tests: 137 runs @ 8.05; 48 wickets @ 29.50.
13 ODI: 5 runs @ 2.50, SR 35.71; 18 wickets @ 26.61, ER 4.71.
JONNY BAIRSTOW
Yorkshire
Questions and answers popped up with indecent haste. The pace of Kemar Roach plainly unsettled him during his debut Test series, against West Indies, yet when Pietersen’s absence gave him another chance, against a speedy South African attack at Lord’s, he batted with exciting assurance for 95 and 54. Then, in India, England didn’t entirely trust him against spin: a stopgap selection with Bell on paternity leave, Bairstow fell on the stroke of a lunch break in his only innings, before slipping behind Root come Nagpur. He managed only one 50-over game all year and, after a promising start in Dubai, his Twenty20 form stalled too: in India in December, he was dropped. Any doubts appeared to surround not his talent, but the best way to harness it.
5 Tests: 196 runs @ 32.66.
1 ODI: 29 runs @ 29.00, SR 55.76.
12 T20I: 142 runs @ 20.28, SR 101.42.
IAN BELL
Warwickshire
Until he helped steer England to safety – and history – at Nagpur, Bell was heading for the worst of his eight full years as a Test batsman. Only at home against West Indies had he flourished; otherwise, he was in danger of reverting to the infuriating pre-2010 model. An integral part of the batting meltdown against Pakistan, he failed to impose himself on South Africa; and, for a while, his mindless first-baller at Ahmedabad, lofting to deep mid-off, looked like the epitome of English ineptitude against spin. But the class that had helped him average 86 over the previous two years reasserted itself in the Fourth Test against India. Oddly, Bell’s unbeaten 116 there was more in keeping with his 50-over form. Refreshed by the challenge of opening regularly for the first time in four years following Pietersen’s temporary retirement, he had sparkled in all three home series, taking a hundred off West Indies at Southampton, then averaging 47 against Australia and 45 against South Africa. His fluency in blue made his Test travails the harder to fathom.
14 Tests: 672 runs @ 33.60.
11 ODI: 549 runs @ 54.90, SR 82.68.
RAVI BOPARA
Essex
It had looked as if 2012 would be Bopara’s breakthrough, when he followed up a favourable impression in the UAE one-dayers with the most authoritative batting of his career during the 4–0 win against Australia. And his busy medium-pacers were proving England’s most economical option. But his return to the Test side, at The Oval against South Africa, was spoiled by two dozy shots, and personal problems ruled him out of the rest of the series. When he came back, for the 50-over matches, he looked like a caught-behind-in-waiting: an average of 91 against Australia now dipped against South Africa to five. His last-ditch selection at the World Twenty20 summed up England’s desperation: with the asking-rate mounting against Sri Lanka, he scored one off six balls. It was all rather painful to witness.
1 Test: 22 runs @ 11.00; no wicket for 78.
14 ODI: 339 runs @ 37.66, SR 80.71; 7 wickets @ 25.00, ER 3.43.
6 T20I: 107 runs @ 17.83, SR 108.08; 1 wicket @ 63.00, ER 7.87.
STUART BROAD
Nottinghamshire
Broad’s performances in the UAE built on his splice-jarring excellence against India the previous summer, but a calf strain cut short his tour of Sri Lanka, and after that he shone only sporadically. Eleven wickets against West Indies at Lord’s were a reminder that he didn’t need to be at his best to cause havoc although, on the final afternoon at Headingley against South Africa, he was genuinely hostile. But two trends were emerging: Broad’s pace dropped to the low-80s – he blamed the speedguns, while the management claimed not to be concerned – and he mislaid the fuller length that had served him well in the second half of 2011. A bruised heel early in India hardly helped, and neither did a total of none for 157 at Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Unimpressed, the selectors dropped him from the Test side for the first time in four years, only weeks after he had been confirmed as Cook’s vice-captain; soon, the heel meant he was on his way home. His year as Twenty20 leader had to be judged by the surrenders to India and Sri Lanka, and he was dragged into the Pietersen affair when forced to deny involvement in a fake Twitter account that had, it transpired, been started by one of his friends. That indignity felt of a piece with a disjointed year.
11 Tests: 277 runs @ 17.31; 40 wickets @ 31.70.
9 ODI: 23 runs @23.00, SR 135.29; 11 wickets @ 33.45, ER 4.65.
12 T20I: 30 runs @ 10.00, SR 83.33; 11 wickets @ 26.54, ER 6.89.
JOS BUTTLER
Somerset
England’s patience was rewarded at Edgbaston in September, when Buttler put a Twenty20 game beyond South Africa’s reach with an awe-inspiring ten-ball unbeaten 32, of which 30 came in a single over from Wayne Parnell. That blast meant a slow start to his international career was forgiven. And 48 undefeated runs off 28 deliveries in the pre-Christmas matches in India, where he replaced Bairstow behind the stumps, confirmed his match-winning potential – especially when his ramp shot was in working order.
1 ODI: 0 runs at 0.00.
14 T20I: 143 runs @ 20.42, SR 133.64; 2 games as wicketkeeper, no dismissals.
NICK COMPTON
Somerset
A prolific season with Somerset and the retirement of Strauss paved the way for Compton’s passage to India, where he contentedly played second fiddle to Cook. His value lay not so much in the runs he scored – in that respect he had a middling series – but in the alliance he forged with his captain. If their partnership of 123 in the follow-on at Ahmedabad might have been England’s most important of the series, then their 165 at Kolkata was not far behind. Compton’s diligence was beyond reproach, and so too his temperament: after two failures in the warm-ups, he forced his way into the Test side with three successive fifties. But it was unclear whether his straitjacket – he scored at 33 runs per 100 balls – had been tailored to circumstance or cut from his natural cloth. On three occasions, he fell between 29 and 37, and a top score of 57 felt, in Indian conditions at least, like a glass ceiling. But a player who was constantly reminded of his dazzling grandfather, and had replaced a modern English great, managed the dual burden with class and composure. Besides, he would always have one over Denis: at Eden Gardens, the Barmy Army honoured Nick with his own song.
4 Tests: 208 runs @ 34.66.
ALASTAIR COOK
Essex
Cook could allow himself a matinee-idol grin when – having just led England to their first Test triumph in India since 1984-85 – it was put to him that his ascent to the captaincy must have seemed like a mixed blessing. In fact, little fazed him, an
d his haul of 548 runs at Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Kolkata represented one of the feats of an already glittering British sporting year. In Tests, he had endured a quiet time until then, including seven single-figure scores in the defeats by Pakistan and South Africa. But his resilience, refusal to panic, and an enforced sense of responsibility now came together: by the end of the year, only Michael Clarke had scored more Test runs, while Cook – uniquely – could celebrate hundreds in each of his first five Tests as captain (starting with a stand-in stint at Chittagong and Dhaka in 2009-10). As he had done while making the one-day captaincy his own the previous year, Cook added new tricks, leaving the crease to launch straight sixes off India’s spinners: in 2012, he hit five in Tests, doubling his career tally. The single-mindedness which was reflected in Cook’s desire to take Pietersen to India and pick Root at Nagpur had also been evident in England’s one-day fortunes. They won 12 out of 14 completed matches, while none of his team-mates could match his 663 runs, three hundreds or 74 fours. His greatest feat, though, was to assume control so calmly in the post-Strauss era. Famously a non-sweater, Cook had turned a physical oddity into a resounding metaphor.
15 Tests: 1,249 runs @ 48.03.
15 ODI: 663 runs @ 47.35, SR 79.97.
JADE DERNBACH
Surrey
For all the experimentation, an ingredient was still missing: Dernbach could not yet be relied upon to stem the flow. He had his moments, most triumphantly when he gambled on a slower ball from the last delivery of the Twenty20 decider against Pakistan, and deceived Misbah-ul-Haq. He was initially forgiven plenty, bowling more Twenty20 overs than any of his team-mates while conceding more than almost all of them. He celebrated each victim with reassuring intensity, but there was too much anguish in between. And after leaking 7.34 an over in the New Year in India, he was dropped from the one-day side for New Zealand.
5 ODI: 2 runs @ 2.00, SR 33.33; 9 wickets @ 28.33, ER 5.60.
13 T20I: 14 runs @ 14.00, SR 155.55; 13 wickets @ 28.92, ER 8.48.
STEVEN FINN
Middlesex
Menace and promise lurked whenever Finn was handed the ball, but injuries and the seam-bowling hierarchy meant he played in only five of England’s 15 Tests – and just once in consecutive games. Eight wickets against South Africa at Lord’s were overshadowed by defeat but, when he had finally recovered from a thigh injury in India, his post-lunch spell on the fourth afternoon at Kolkata paved the way for a famous win. A strained disc ruled him out of Nagpur, but there was another troublesome body part: his right knee had a habit of knocking into the stumps at the point of delivery, prompting umpires to call dead ball at the second offence, a ruling that cost him the wicket of Graeme Smith at Headingley. He promised to sort things out, but never quite did, and missed out on another wicket at Mohali in January 2013. In the limited-overs formats, he was outstanding – fast, fiery, frugal. Series figures of 40–3–134–13 had helped demolish Pakistan 4–0, and Finn was also a lone flicker of light during the World Twenty20. Now England just needed to keep him fit.
5 Tests: 16 runs @ 8.00; 20 wickets @ 31.50.
14 ODI: 15 runs without dismissal, SR 187.50; 25 wickets @ 20.00, ER 4.20.
11 T20I: 9 runs without dismissal, SR 69.23; 17 wickets @ 16.70, ER 6.76.
ALEX HALES
Nottinghamshire
Less than a year and a half after his England debut, and with Pietersen barely around, Hales could claim to have developed into their leading Twenty20 batsman, finishing 91 runs clear of the pack. His 99 off 68 balls against West Indies at Trent Bridge was a reward for intelligent shot selection, and in the two end-of-year games in India he managed 98 off 68. He even verged on the status of cause célèbre, banned by Nottinghamshire – along with Lumb and Patel – from considering IPL offers. But he knew time was on his side.
10 T20I: 343 runs @ 38.11; SR 137.20.
CRAIG KIESWETTER
Somerset
It seemed like an identity crisis. Finally demoted in the one-day order to No. 6 after 28 innings as opener had brought him an average of all but 30 and a strike-rate of 94, Kieswetter lost more than he gained. It was slightly curious that England persisted with him at the top of the Twenty20 line-up, where a run a ball and only one score over 35 were barely adequate. Too often, he followed the management’s strictures about the preservation of early wickets, but without rotating the strike. And after scoring four off 14 balls in the World Twenty20 against New Zealand, he was dropped. His keeping, on the other hand, improved – not least during the 50-over series against Australia. But it wasn’t enough, and after more struggles, in India in early 2013, he was ditched in that format too.
15 ODI: 203 runs @ 33.83, SR 80.55; 26 catches, 5 stumpings.
11 T20I: 180 runs @ 16.36, SR 102.85; 8 catches, 1 stumping.
EOIN MORGAN
Middlesex
The final act of England’s year was Morgan’s straight six off Ashok Dinda to seal a last-ball Twenty20 win at Mumbai, but almost all his heroics until then had been confined to the 50-over game. In 12 innings, he was not out six times – and England won the lot. It was no coincidence that he was the only player to appear in all 29 limited-overs internationals in 2012, nor that he was entrusted with the Twenty20 captaincy in India while Broad was at home injured. But his Test career stuttered after both his technique and, more unexpectedly, his temperament deserted him against Pakistan’s spinners. By the end of the Indian tour, he had disappeared into the pack, even if he had at least rectified the excessive crouch which had been playing havoc with his balance. Only a return to the Test team, though, would complete the picture.
3 Tests: 82 runs @ 13.66.
15 ODI: 364 runs @ 60.66, SR 98.11.
14 T20I: 243 runs @ 24.30, SR 120.89.
MONTY PANESAR
Sussex
Here was what Panesar had become: an unaffordable luxury in England, but a potential match-winner in Asia, although even there he was no automatic selection. He missed one Test on each of the three overseas tours, but his performances against Pakistan and India would call the selectors’ judgment into question. When he did play, both Strauss and Cook treated him as their No. 1 spinner, partly because he provided more control than Swann: at Nagpur, he bowled 52 overs for 81. But he could be lethal too and – after he was bizarrely overlooked at Ahmedabad – the Wankhede pitch in Mumbai might have been created with his pace and accuracy in mind; he had, he thought, never bowled better. And so the familiar lament: if only Panesar had an all-round game. Two bad drops off Mahela Jayawardene arguably cost England the Galle Test, and he failed to score in five innings out of nine. Such one-dimensionality wouldn’t have been a problem for any other team. But England had Swann.
6 Tests: 26 runs @ 4.33; 33 wickets @ 26.03.
SAMIT PATEL
Nottinghamshire
The worry was that 2012 spelled the beginning and the end of Patel’s Test career. Miscast at No. 7 in Sri Lanka, he was given the chance a place higher against India – but didn’t take it. And when Panesar was belatedly selected, for the Second Test, his bonus gig as back-up spinner became redundant; Root’s selection for Nagpur was the writing on the wall. Patel’s limited-overs performances were not compelling either, save for a skilful 67 off 48 balls in the World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka, when he confirmed himself as one of England’s more natural players of spin. But his gifts were glimpsed too rarely, and his slow left-armers too easily milked. In the field, he earned brownie points for his part in the run-out of Virender Sehwag at Kolkata, yet it felt he was no more than a fluff away from riling the coaches.
5 Tests: 109 runs @ 15.57; 4 wickets @ 64.25.
10 ODI: 101 runs @ 50.50, SR 83.47; 5 wickets @ 58.00, ER 5.00.
11 T20I: 133 runs @ 19.00, SR 119.81; 2 wickets @ 87.00, ER 7.90.
KEVIN PIETERSEN
Surrey
The year ended as it began, with Pietersen getting into a tangle against spin in Asia, but in between he spray-painted English cricket with all the colours of the
rainbow. You name it, he did it – and never in half-measures. The early months were either famine (in the Pakistan Tests) or feast (in the subsequent limited-overs matches in the UAE, and during his outrageous 151 in Colombo). Then came fiasco. Emboldened by his new IPL contract with Delhi Daredevils, Pietersen sought to retire from one-day internationals, with apparent disregard for the terms of his central contract: he would have to quit Twenty20 internationals too. A misplaced sense of grievance was not helped by a fake Twitter account in his name. And he became an out-and-out pariah when – a few days after his breathtaking 149 at Headingley and an equally jaw-dropping press conference (“it’s tough being me”) – it emerged he had been sending “provocative” texts to members of the South African team. For England, enough was enough. Pietersen was dropped for the Third Test at Lord’s, then ignored for the World Twenty20 title defence, despite having unretired from the limited-overs formats in August via a YouTube interview. The next episode in the soap opera came during his “reintegration”, a designation dreamed up by ECB chairman Giles Clarke during another bizarre press conference, stage-managed in Sri Lanka, where Pietersen was now providing TV punditry. But Cook replaced Strauss, and wanted his best players in India. After a series of meetings with senior players and support staff, Pietersen was welcomed back, and celebrated with his third Test tour de force of the year, a series-turning 186 at Mumbai. Half-centuries at Kolkata and Nagpur – where he knuckled down for the second-slowest score of 50-plus in his Test career – confirmed his return. The scenic route is rarely straightforward.