Line & Length's Guide to the Noughties: 2000
Starting today and appearing every four or five days, Line & Length goes all misty-eyed and looks back on the past decade of cricket. Who were the heroes and the villains, what were the best matches, who were the least likely international cricketers and who did we say goodbye to?
Also, every few days you get to vote on who was the greatest Test cricketer of each year culminating in a poll around the turn of the year to decide the best player of the Noughties. I've got my money on Ronnie Irani...
2000
The year in summary: England: After losing by an innings in Cape Town at the start of the year, England beat South Africa in Centurion by two wickets in a contrived run-chase after each side forfeited an innings. Has the whiff of corruption, but great fun.
A year after becoming the worst Test nation and with Duncan Fletcher as their new coach, England beat West Indies in a Test series for the first time in 31 years. They lost the first Test by an innings, won the second by two wickets after bowling out the Windies for 54 at Lord's, won the fourth by an innings after bowling out the Windies for 61 and then won at the Oval. Your blogger wins £300 from a £5 bet with Ladbrokes after betting that Nixon McLean, left, would be the Windies' leading batsman at 60-1 in the final Test. With 29 runs, he is.
England beat Zimbabwe 1-0 in two-Test series, bowling them out for 83 in first match. Surrey win Championship; Gloucestershire win three one-day trophies. That winter, England beat Pakistan 1-0, chasing 176 in 42 overs in the final Test to win after two draws. Graham Thope makes 64* in match that finishes in near darkness.
World: Bangladesh become tenth Test nation; they lose their first match to India by nine wickets. Hansie Cronje, left, sacked as SA captain for involvement in match-fixing. Mohammad Azharuddin banned for life by BCCI on same grounds. The likes of Alec Stewart, Mark Waugh and Brian Lara are investigated but cleared. Australia win eight Tests out of eight, taking their winning streak to 14 (it would end up at 16). Andy Flower makes 232* to save Test after Zimbabwe follow on against India in Nagpur (Tendulkar 201* in first innings). Glenn McGrath takes 6-17 in 20 overs vs West Indies at Brisbane. New Zealand beat India in final of Champions Trophy.
Leading Test run-scorers Inzamam-ul-Haq 1090 runs @ 61 average; A Flower 1045 @ 80; Atherton 990 @ 50; Yousuf 839 @ 49; Kallis 780 @ 49
Leading Test wicket-takers Muralitharan 75 wickets @ 20; Walsh 66 @ 19; Gough 48 @ 24; Pollock 42 @ 20; McGrath 39 @ 16
Received their first Test cap Chris Schofield, left, Matthew Hoggard, Marcus Trescothick (all Eng), Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan (both Ind), Mark Richardson, Chris Martin (both NZ), Younus Khan, Danish Kaneria (both Pak), Neil McKenzie (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan (both WI)
Went off to the Great Pavilion in the Sky Brian Statham (Eng, 69), Colin Cowdrey (Eng, 67), EW Swanton (Eng, 92), Lala Amarnath (Ind, 88), Roy Fredericks (WI, 57)
What also happened in 2000 Millennium Bug doesn't happen, Dotcom bubble peaks, Harold Shipman convicted, India's population hits 1 billion, George W Bush becomes US president
Vote below on your favourite player of the year (note: only of the year) and share your favourite memories of 2000 by clicking on comments below
McGrath had an average batting line to bowl against, C.Walsh was all class.... Again....
Posted by: SouthernWaratah | 16 Nov 2009 04:06:43
I'm not really sure you can say Hansie Cronje made things unpredictable...wasn't the whole point that he made things very predictable for some?
Posted by: Reuben Kincaid | 16 Nov 2009 07:25:23
You really have to admire Flower and Walsh, such High Class performers in such poor teams, especially Courtney who had known much better times.
Posted by: Rob Anderson | 16 Nov 2009 14:12:19
The memories of England regaining the Wisden Trophy still give me a warm glow even after all this time.
Posted by: David Pascoe | 18 Nov 2009 17:20:41