So, that was the year that was. 2001, the year the game's greatest practitioner - Sir Donald Bradman - passed away, the year Australia re-affirmed their status as one of history's greatest Test teams and the year cricket itself came under threat from a potentially seismic administrative split.

On the field Steve Waugh's Australians began the year by somehow contriving to lose in India after being 1-0 up and enforcing the follow-on but bounced back to demolish both England and South Africa to crush rumours of their imminent demise.

New Zealand put up surprisingly stout resistance and emerged unscathed with a 0-0 series draw but Australia remain the standard bearers in Test and ODI cricket because of their all-round superiority in fitness, training and mental sharpness.

Two significant factors in their supremacy are Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne - and how pleasing it was to see the bleach-blonde wicket-machine back to something like his best - but the surprise packages this year were Matt Hayden and Justin langer.

Hayden surpassed the most optimitsic of expectations by amassing a staggering 1,391 Test runs (at 63.23) during the calender year, third in history behind Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar.

In the process he bettered Bobby Simpson's all-time Australian record and finally translated his awesome domestic form onto the international stage.

Langer was less of a surprise on the surface because of his previous pedigree at Test level but his emergence as an opening partner for Hayden - he averaged 72.62 from nine innings as an opener in 2001 - was enough to send outcast Michael Slater into seemingly terminal depression.

Away from Australia, India certainly take the plaudits for their series win against the undisputed world champions - with VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh to the fore - but their shocking away form remains a devastating achilles heel.

Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara - wonderfully rejuvenated until cruelly injured in a freak fielding accident - remain the standard bearers in terms of batting excellence, but for sheer bloody-mindedness Andy Flower's 899 runs at 89.90 stands out a mile.

If India's remarkable victory against Australia in Calcutta was the team performance of the year - when they became only the third side to win after following-on - then Flower's 142 and 199* in a nine-wicket defeat against South Africa has to be the individual performance of the year.

As for the bowlers, 2001 was the swansong for West Indian legend Courtney Walsh as he finally bowed out with a world record 519 wickets at 24.46 from a mammoth 132 Tests.

The Australian pair of McGrath and Warne both have pretensions on Walsh's awesome tally but the most likely successor to one of the game's great ambassadors is Sri Lanka's masterful Muttiah Muralitharan.

The Kandy man proved most batsmen's worst nightmare as he followed 2000's 75 wickets with 80 in 2001, and from just 12 games.

Admittedly 11 of those matches were on home soil but during the past two years Murali has now taken 155 Test wickets in 22 games. It is a staggering success-rate - although he did bowl more overs than any other player in 2001 - and with 382 from 70 (at 24.35) to date he is well set for the overall record.

Other performers of note during 2001 included Sri Lanka as a team - with the best win ratio of 61.54 - helped no doubt by some stirring performances from Murali, Chaminda Vaas (58 wickets at 22.84), Kumar Sangarkkara (992 runs at 55.11), Hashan Tillakaratne (682 runs at 136.40) and Thilan Samaraweera (422 runs at 140.66).

Elsewhere, Australian Mark Waugh usurped former captain Mark Taylor as the most prolific non-keeping catcher - 166 and counting as of 01.01.2002 - while South African Jacques Kallis tried everyone's patience by breaking the record for most longest duration undefeated in Test cricket. Worthy but mostly dull.

Australia and Sri Lanka were definitely the teams of the year and other than that England flourished in patches, South Africa fell down when it mattered while New Zealand seemingly punched above their weight.

Pakistan had mixed results in the games they managed to play, West Indies remain on a downward slump and Bangladesh struggled more than neutrals would have hoped.

But the wooden spoon as far as 2001 goes undeniably heads in Zimbabwe's direction, but who should receive it is another question altogether.

Having gone through five captains in the last 18 months - the latest of which, Brian Murphy, stood down on the grounds he wasn't good enough to get into the team - their on-field performances have disintegrated to shambolic.

A world record string of ODI defeats coupled with continuing Test traumas - Sri Lanka are currently plundering the Zimbabawean profligacy - marks them out as 2001's biggest losers, and yet Andy Flower still made those runs.

Despite that Murali remains my Test player of 2001 for his outstanding continued success - he became the first man in Test history to take four consecutive 10-wicket match hauls - and by who's nomination I also tilt a nod in England's direction for his relatively modest return against Nasser Hussain's men.

Tests 2001 (winning percentage)
Team	M	W	D	L	W%
Sri Lanka	13	8	0	5	61.54
Australia	14	8	3	3	57.14
Pakistan	6	3	1	2	50.00
South Africa	13	6	4	3	46.15
India	13	5	3	5	38.46
New Zealand	8	3	4	1	37.50
Zimbabwe	11	4	3	4	36.56
England	13	4	2	7	30.77
West Indies	11	2	3	6	18.18
Bangladesh	8	0	1	7	00.00

Test run-scorers - 2001
Player	M	Inns	Runs	Av'ge	50s	100s	HS
Hayden	14	25	1,391	63.23	5	5	203
Lara	9	18	1,152	64.00	4	3	221
Gibbs	13	22	1,124	53.52	6	3	196
Kallis	13	23	1,120	70.00	7	2	189
Jayawardene	13	19	1,053	55.42	4	4	150

(other 1,000+: Tendulkar 1,003 @ 62.69)

Test wicket-takers - 2001
Player	M	Runs	Wkts	Av'ge	5wI	10wM	BB
Muralitharan	12	1,700	80	21.25	7	4	8-87
McGrath	14	1,469	68	21.10	4	0	7-76
Singh H	12	1,557	60	25.95	6	2	8-84
Vaas	12	1,325	58	22.84	3	1	7-71
Warne	13	1,809	58	31.19	4	1	7-165

(other 50+ wkts: Pollock 55 @ 21.38)

31 Dec, 2001