Eleven of the Eleven

“A Thing well began is Half done”

The debutants bring a fresh lease of energy to the field and create an immediate impact in the minds of the fans much easier than the experienced ones. A good beginning can influence the development in a great manner. They can also avoid the pressure of uncertainty. The year of 2011 has been blessed with so many stars that made a grand debut and have established themselves as men for feature. Here is a XI picked among the “Eleveners” – The players who made their test debut in 2011 and have earned a name and reputation for themselves.

David Warner

            The man made for T20 style of aggressive play, Warner had made his international debut for Australia in T20 with a blitzkrieg knock of 89 against South Africa much before he made his First Class debut for New South Wales. Yet he has successfully graduated from T20 school to Test opening wherein he made a patient 123 in his second match, carrying the bat through the innings. In the year that Australia struggled with their opening batsmen to partner Watson, he comes as a saviour. 153 runs in 4 innings at an average of 76.5 look quite impressive.

Kirk Edwards

            Dareen Bravo with a batting reminiscent of Lara has been the talk of the Caribbean but the Bajan, Edwards has made a silent progress. With a century on debut against India, another one later in 2011 and few impressive fifties, he appears to provide the solidarity to the struggling West Indies batting especially with Chanderpaul in his twilight days. 594 runs in 6 tests at 54.09 is too good a figure for current Calypso batsman. With a tight defence, he looks a bolt in blue among the new generation Windies batsmen who have a gasping technique. Though not exactly an opener, I pitch him with the new ball since more often than not he is used to it.

Shaun Marsh

            Son of a former opening batsman for Baggy Green, Shaun has followed the footsteps of his dad Geoff in promising to be a dependable top order batsman. In 284 runs in 5 innings at 56.8 that included a century on debut, Marsh is providing the cushion to legendary Ponting to bat at No 4. If he can establish himself at No 3, not only will the present Australian set up gain but also cricket in general. He is a batsman with rock solid technique and can adjust to any form of the game.

Dean Brownlie

            Brownlie migrated to New Zeland across Tasmanian Sea and got into their team in his second season itself. He has been impressive throughout with three fine knocks in as many matches. Not often do we find a Kiwi newcomer with an average of 53.6 and 268 runs at the end of his first 3 matches. In a fragile batting order, if he can cement himself, Brownlie can lead the Kiwi renaissance. Right now he looks to be going in right direction.

Virat Kohli

            This pick was a tricky one. Khawaja and Kohli had almost similar stats in their debut season. However Kohli is my pick for by the time he made his test debut, Kohli was an established match winner in ODIs and is the leading scorer in ODIs for the year 2011. He had a sober debut in West Indies, struggling to pace and bounce but back home, he impressed with two good fifties against the same opponents. His form going into the Boxing Day has been good too. He has the right temperament and needs to improve his technique more. 191 runs in 4 matches at 27, though not so impressive for a player in Indian batting line up, he has promises to behold.

 

Vernon Philander

            A pace bowling allrounder, Philander broke into the South African squad as the support cast to their fiery new ball attack of Steyn and Morkel. But after just 3 matches, he looks a potent threat to the opponents out bowling his accomplished seniors. 4 five wicket hauls in 6 innings, blowing off the opposition along with Steyn, what else can one ask from a debutant. He is the latest addition to the Proteas never ending stream of fast bowlers. His length and seam control has troubled some quality players like Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Mahela and Sangakkara so far. If this is an indication, the batters have another one to deal carefully.

Reece Young

            Many a batsmen, spinners, pacers who made their debut in 2011 had been successful. But keepers of the year had not made much mark as the other disciplines. Yet among the debutants – Mohammed Salman, Reece Young and Kaushal Silva, Young looks the better lot. He has a test fifty and some decent returns behind the stumps.

Ravichandran Ashwin

            Along with Philander, he is the exciting debutant of the year. Long before he donned the whites, Ashwin was a hit in limited overs. With Harbhajan’s awful form, Ashwin got his due. He grabbed the chance with both the hands taking a six for on debut. He followed it with a century and five wicket haul in his just third test. With a century and 22 wickets in his debut series, Ashwin looks like a man India desperately needs to fill Kumble’s shoes. His carom ball will pose questions to batsmen in future.

Doug Bracewell

            Hailing from a Cricketing lineage, this nephew of former Kiwi off spinner John Bracewell got into the test squad at just 21 years and quickly ascertained his quality in his third test with a match winning six wicket haul against the Australian side at Hobart. He is a useful fast bowling all rounder. Though a surprise pick, the man had made most of the luck that came his way with an impressive test record of 16 wickets at 19.6 in 3 matches.

James Pattinson

            Australia unleashed a pace sensation in Cummins against South Africa but he soon injured himself. Somehow they found another in Pattinson who demolished the Kiwis in both the tests he played. With his height and bounce, he is likely to trouble quality batsmen. Australia at its lowest ebb needed a match winner and he seems to be one. With two five wicket hauls in his first two tests, he is the man to watch.

Devendra Bishoo

          Ever since the two wizards in Warne and Kumble left, art of leg spin in red cherry was almost extinct before the Guyanese Bishoo revived it with some impressive performance against Indians, supposed to be the best players of spin. In his 10 matches, he has 39 scalps and has moreover managed to contain Tendulkar, something even Warne could not. ICC’s Emerging player of the Year award and few good spells, his curriculum vitae looks imperious at the end of first year. If he can sustain, the renaissance of West Indies cricket is not far.

This is the best possible XI, I could choose. There had been more potential candidates to form a second XI too which could read as : Ed Cowan – Kragg Brathwaite – Kieran Powell – Nazir Hossain – Usman Khawaja – Mohammed Salman – Eliyas Sunny – Pat Cummins – Umesh Yadav -  Nathan Lyon – Kyle Jarvis. Undoubtedly the year of 2011 have been “DEBUTANT’s YEAR”

Five Faces To Fancy

“Men may come and Men may go; But I go on forever” – It is not just River Thames in Wordsworth’s poem. Our game of Cricket runs despite all the controversies and muggings over it in the recent times, in the past and will continue to be so in future. Every now and then a new glory emerges in the game. Quite a lot of such newer entrants fade out. Few of them continue to dazzle us.

This article is about five such newbies who have made a positive kick start to their career. Whether they end up with a career fulfilling their initial promise is better known to time. However let us celebrate their brilliant start and potential they display.

First such debut of the year to promise is that of a man who appears to revive the art of leg spin. Since the days of Warne and Kumble, no leg spinner has been able to make news in test cricket. Devendra Bishoo from Guyana entered the West Indies team, plagued by poor form and administrative mismanagement and immediately made name producing a match winning spell against Pakistan. What followed was more astounding. He made the Indian line up, supposed to be the best players of spin guessing with his leg breaks and wrong ‘uns. That Dravid and Laxman found him hard to play in West Indies speaks the volume of his ability. In Bangladesh he made short work of the young batsmen unsure of their feet in cricket still. The present tour of India has not been a big success but then even the best like Warne and Murali suffered in India to its marauding batsmen. In limited overs too, Bishoo has been promising few useful hauls. He was the deserving winner of ICC's "Emerging player of the Year award" and offers a lot to the West Indies side that is down and out right now.

Junaid Khan was the next to make the grade. He continues the legacy of Pakistani left arm pacers. Aameer messed his career to greed and misguidance and his successor Junaid Khan was a part of the World Cup squad but did not play. He made his debut with ordinary performance at Bulawayo against Zimbabwe. However in the dustbowls of the Gulf, Junaid showed his ability with an excellent five for against Srilanka which managed to bowl out the Lankan line up filled with stroke makers of excellence for a partly 197. Junaid in all took 11 wickets in the series in conditions extremely unconducive for the bowlers. With his left arm medium pace, he offers a ray of hope to the Pakistani side that has been hit by one controversy after another.

Third debutant to make the mark is someone who had been a star performer and well known by the time he was handed the test cap. Ravichandran Ashwin first hit the headlines in IPL as M.S.Dhoni’s trump card for Chennai Super Kings. He craftily bowled in the power plays and managed to keep some of the gustiest hitters in cricket like Gayle and Gilchrist guessing. His ODI career with Indian team was smooth with useful spells studded with fair economy rate and key wickets. Harbhajan’s loss of form handed Ashwin his test cap. In the second innings of his first test, Ashwin held forte. Some conventional finger spin with disguised weapon – the carom ball got him six wickets. Nine wickets and Man of the Match award on debut shows a highly promising start. More than anything he shows the glimpses of Indian spin’s legacy with his smart bowling. He should end up with a long successful career if things go right.

Ashwins’s debut coincided with that of another promising youngster from South Africa namely Vernon Philander. South Africa has never been short of pacers but they lacked a third seamer to consistently back up their fearsome new ball attack of Steyn and Morkel. Enter Philander, he made a decent spell of three wickets in the first innings. But it was the second innings when, he along with Morkel reduced the Australian line up with Watson, Ponting, Clarke and Hussey look paupers for a poor 21/9. Had not been there a fighting 26 partnership by the tail, they might have had the lowest total in test history. Philander was unplayable with his variations, taking a five for haul. No wonder he too got his Man of the Match award on debut. Above all, Philander is a useful bat in the middle or lower middle order, giving more depth to the strong South African batting line up. With Steyn and Morkel, if he can sustain, Philander may form a highly potent attack in years to come. 

Latest debutant to hog the lime light was Patrick Cummins. He became the youngest Australian to earn their central contract and second youngest Australian to play test cricket. And what a sensational debut it was. He is already making names for his raw pace. After being impressive but without success in the first innings, Cummins at 18 is sensational with his outswingers and angulations in the second innings. He managed to break the stubborn partnership of Amla and De villers and brought up the six wicket haul and with it the Australia’s chances to win the match. Australia is presently having a weak attack with Johnson in awful form, Bollinger and Hilfenhaus indisposed, Siddle is nonthreatening and here Cummins is a fresh positive for the struggling side. Like the other four, he must make big in cricket if he plays to his promise.

The year of 2011, after a lull for the bowlers appears promising with new faces making a right start. There had been some majestic innings constructed this year but compared to the previous years, the debutants who have made big are mostly bowlers.  And of this five, two right arm fast bowlers - one who swings and one who bowls extremely fast, one left arm fast bowler, one leg spinner and one off spinner completing a perfect attack. This gives a ray of hope in the days of uneven contest between the bat and the ball. Let these debutants enjoy a long and successful career and continue to provide us joy.