Curran and Burns have lit up the season
Along with dependable James Anderson, the trio have been the main players of the summer
Best Test of the season
England v India, first Test at Edgbaston. A handsome 149 by Virat Kohli, a swashbuckling 63 by Sam Curran, then a pumped-up Ben Stokes bowled England to victory by 31 runs.
Best championship match
Why look further than Surrey losing to Essex by one wicket in a glorious exhibition of four-day cricket on an excellent pitch?
Best white-ball match
Lancashire v Yorkshire T20. Lancashire won by one run at a packed Old Trafford. Reduced to 14 overs a side yet “the best match I’ve played in” according to Lancashire captain Liam Livingstone.
Test player
Sam Curran. Two match-winning innings for England – his 63 at Edgbaston and 78 at Southampton – worthy of Ian Botham or Andrew Flintoff.
Test bowler
James Anderson. His haul of Test wickets in the last three summers has been – 2016: 30 wickets at 15; 2017: 39 wickets at 14; 2018: 33 wickets at 18.
Championship players
Rory Burns, as Surrey captain and leading first-class run-scorer, and Morne Morkel, still a world-class fast bowler.
Up-and-coming like-for-like replacement for Anderson
Mohammad Abbas, who took eight wickets for 64 in the Lord’s Test, and 50 wickets at 17 for Leicestershire. Unfortunately for England, he plays for Pakistan.
ECB’S three biggest PR disasters
1 The Hundred. Alienated everyone from the moment it was mentioned.
2 England’s 1000th Test v India at Edgbaston. Could anything have been cheaper and shoddier than launching it with the presentation of two salvers?
3 Surrey win the county championship in style at Worcester but no sign of a trophy.
Most casual preparation
India warming up for the Test series with nothing more than a three-day 18-a-side game against Essex. You reap what you sow: 4-1 to England.
Worst selection
India, selecting a 10-man team for most Tests and playing a half-fit Ravi Ashwin ahead of Ravi Jadeja. England selectors have done OK, no more. Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid recalled, yes. But Jonny Bairstow’s purple patch ended by promoting him to number five. The over-dependence on Anderson and Stuart Broad continues, and they let India back into it when Curran was dropped for Trent Bridge.
Most significant century:
Joe Root’s two ODI hundreds against India which demystified the leftarm wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav.
Most joyous farewell
Alastair Cook at the Oval. A perfect ending for a perfect role-model.
Most significant retirements
Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott. They do not make characters like those two any more.
Most encouraging feature of the county white-ball season
The emergence of young wrist-spinners.
Most disheartening feature of the county red-ball season
The irrelevance of spinners for most counties as the ball jagged around and most championship matches were played in the spring and autumn. Only two Englandqualified spinners took more than 20 wickets in Division One: Amar Virdi and Jack Leach.
Three biggest county mysteries
1. Why are Nottinghamshire unable to produce batsmen of their own, without pillaging neighbouring counties?
2. Why are Surrey unable to produce pace bowlers who do not hail from southern Africa?
3. Why are Hampshire unable to produce pace bowlers of their own, who are not Kolpaks?
Obvious suggestion
Test match counties that sign players from non-test counties, or Kolpaks, should be deducted 10 points for each such player at the start of the next season.
Finest achievement by a non-test match county
Worcestershire winning the Vitality T20 Blast.