Test, white-ball, county and women's player of the year awards are dished out by HUW TURBERVILL, JAMES COYNE, SAM MORSHEAD, NICK HOWSON, NICK FRIEND, OWEN RILEY, THOMAS BLOW and XAVIER VOIGT-HILL...
Test player of the year: Tempting to go for Marnus Labuschagne. What an impact he had. Used his stint at Glamorgan perfectly to fine-tune his game (while winning hearts and minds in the land of my fathers). And then making a major impact in the Ashes. But it has to be Steve Smith. A phenomenal talent: see ball, hit ball. A year out did nothing to blunt his rapacious run gathering, and he also showed considerable courage to bounce back after being felled by Jofra Archer at Lord's.
International white-ball player of the year: Eoin Morgan. Drew the blueprint for England to break their World Cup duck. Things went well for four years. Then it all went pear-shaped. They were dismantled by Australia at Lord's. He was under the most severe pressure. Kevin Pietersen had insulted his friend on Twitter, hinting that he was scared of Mitchell Starc, and the press pack in the real tennis court at HQ feared the worst. He faced up bravely. He did not so much hold his nerve as entrap in a lead-lined box. England bounced back brilliantly to beat India, New Zealand, Australia and – of course – the Kiwis again in that final. Mission accomplished.
Test team of the year: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Quinton de Kock, Stuart Broad, Pat Cummins, Neil Wagner
International white-ball team of the year: Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Eoin Morgan, Jonny Bairstow, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammed Shami, Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc
County player of the year: Simon Harmer. Once again – with 83 wickets at 18.29 – he was the single-biggest factor in Essex's County Championship triumph (thus nudging out Dominic Sibley and his five centuries). The icing on the cake for Harmer was T20 finals day – as captain he took 4 for 19 against Derbyshire in the semi and 3 for 16 versus Worcestershire in the final. With Moeen Ali absent indefinitely, and Jack Leach evidently not indispensable to Joe Root, could England conceivably come knocking after all?
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry – Australia queenpin was magnificent in the Ashes (although I enjoy watching Sophie Ecclestone bowl)
Women's team of the year: Tammy Beaumont, Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Nat Sciver, Beth Mooney, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Molineux
Innings of the year: Ben Stokes at Headingley. One of the greatest knocks of all time, considering the pressure he and his team were under: like Brian Lara faced against Australia at Bridgetown in 1999. Sir Ian Botham (same venue, 1981) had nothing to lose in a way, a staggering innings as that was. It's amazing how many epic knocks are played in Leeds actually – take also Graham Gooch's 154 not out against West Indies in 1991. I'd love to have been at Eden Gardens for VVS Laxman's 281 versus Australia in 2001.
Disappointment of the year: As a Sussex fan it was missing out on County Championship promotion again (despite three going up this time), and Alex Carey dropping Moeen Ali on 5 at Hove in the Blast quarter-final – he went on to make the small matter of 121 not out. On a grander scale, it would have been good to see Afghanistan win at least one match in an otherwise decent World Cup; and the Ashes felt a bit rushed, while delivering a few epic moments of course.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Job done (phew)
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be… The Championship should serve the Test team. That means more games in high summer. Next summer there are seven (of 14) by the end of May, and four in September. So my wish is for the wise ones to plot a better course for 2021. Happy new year.
The Cricketer's 50 Best Cricketers of the Decade: No. 10-1
Test player of the year: Steve Smith, for the way he re-entered Test cricket in the biggest cauldron in the game, blocked all out all the catcalls, and looked at least twice as good as every other batsman except Ben Stokes and Marnus Labuschagne. I cannot wait for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in a year's time.
International white-ball player of the year: Jasprit Bumrah – the world's best fast bowler.
Test team of the year: Tom Latham, Rohit Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Neil Wagner, Jasprit Bumrah
International white-ball team of the year: David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah, Imran Tahir
County player of the year: I'm tempted to say Dominic Sibley, but for Simon Harmer to take 83 Championship wickets and turn round Essex's T20 campaign from near-elimination to hitting the winning runs was an astonishing burden to take on – all with a backdrop of uncertainty over Kolpak signings like him.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry. There needs no explaining that she's the best female cricketer in the world, by some distance.
Women's team of the year: Sophie Devine, Tammy Beaumont, Smriti Mandhana, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Nat Sciver, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Ecclestone
Innings of the year: Hard to think of the last time someone played an innings like Ben Stokes did at Headingley, given the mental reserves he would have used up during the World Cup and with the Ashes on the line. The best imaginable combination of Test-match steeliness and T20 ingenuity.
Disappointment of the year: It's a bit parochial, perhaps, but Nottinghamshire. I wrote in my season preview for The Cricketer magazine that another season flirting with relegation would not be tolerated. Little did I know that a squad with Notts' ability – and wage bill – could perform so dreadfully as to not win a single game out of 14 in the County Championship. Astonishing.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Stokes turns superhuman.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be…: Is it too much to hope that The Hundred cracks through and makes a positive impression on the swathes of British boys and girls who know little of cricket... while at the same time not finishing off red-ball cricket? They used to say that limited-overs cricket was there to pay for Test cricket...
India quicks Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah feature throughout our writers' teams of the year
Test player of the year: Marnus Labuschagne. Steve Smith might have had an extraordinarily dominant Ashes series, but Labuschagne's record since replacing him as a concussion substitute at Lord's is even more remarkable. Passing fifty nine times in 15 Test innings is astonishing.
International white-ball player of the year: Jason Roy. England's opening batsman played considerably fewer innings than the rest of the top 20 runscorers in ODIs, but his impact in the games he did feature in was substantial. A haul of 845 runs from 12 innings at an average beyond 70 and a strike rate in excess of 118 was quite brilliant (and he managed to go past fifty on nine occasions). He smashed a century against Pakistan after being up all night tending for his sickly baby daughter, then demolished Australia in brutal fashion at Edgbaston – an innings featuring the biggest six this reporter has ever seen. Only his peculiar insertion into an Ashes squad diminished the way we will look back on this year for Roy.
Test team of the year: Tom Latham, Mayank Agarwal, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Pat Cummins, Starc, Neil Wagner, Mohammed Shami
International white-ball team of the year: Jason Roy, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Virat Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Stokes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Sandeep Lamichanne
County player of the year: Darren Stevens. The allrounder was all but out of Kent, but at the age of 43 forced his way to a new contract through sheer belligerence.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry. The standout female cricketer of a generation just keeps on performing a level above her peers.
Women's team of the year: Alyssa Healy, Tammy Beaumont, Smriti Mandhana, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Bismah Maroof, Nat Sciver, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt, Nattaya Boochatham
Innings of the year: Kusal Perera. Away from home, playing for a deeply unfancied side, in a position of almost certain defeat, Perera played the sort of generation-defining innings which in any other year would have headlined the annual recaps. But his 153 not out – bullish, inventive and powerful – ended up dwarfed by Ben Stokes' similar antics in August. That's unfair. This was really very special indeed.
Disappointment of the year: South African cricket. A rotten governing body, a talent pool being drained, a miserable World Cup, and a nagging sense of what might (and should) have been.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Exciting, emotional, exhausting.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be…: That The Hundred – now it has been thrust upon us – turns out to be a success*, and for the ECB to listen to its existing core demographic.
*success = growing the reach of the sport without impinging on the existing formats
The Cricketer's 20 Heroes of 2019
Test player of the year: Marnus Labuschagne – Had no right to make Test cricket look like such a doddle in his first full year as an international. Parachuted into the Australia Ashes team as the format's first ever concussion substitute and played a key role in the urn being retained. Centuries against Pakistan and New Zealand were a fitting way to sign-off the year.
International white-ball player of the year: Rohit Sharma – Outscored handsomely by his India captain Virat Kohli, but Rohit's runs meant more in a World Cup year. His five centuries in the 2019 World Cup were executed with the type of skill which betrayed the occasion. There are few players who look more serene at the crease in high-pressure scenarios.
Test team of the year: Tom Latham, Mayank Agarwal, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder, Jofra Archer, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Nathan Lyon
International white-ball team of the year: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Babar Azam, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni, Chris Woakes, Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Nosaina Pokana
County player of the year: Tom Banton – Hard to remember more excitement around a single English player in recent memory. Scored influential runs in both white ball competitions with reckless abandon. Could inspire a generation simply by the inventiveness with which he plays.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry – Arguably the best player on the planet, regardless of gender. Whether it be the Ashes, WBBL or addressing her enormous fanbase she carries herself with aplomb and class. The sport would be foolish not to push her as a role model for the future.
Women's team of the year: Smriti Mandhana, Meg Lanning, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Jemimah Rodrigues, Stafanie Taylor, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Poonam Yadav, Nattaya Boochatham, Megan Schutt
Innings of the year: Ben Stokes' 135 not out at Headingley – I remember where I was, you remember where you were. The only thing more deafening than the silence between deliveries was the sound of the lusty blows exploding off Stokes' bat. The World Cup provided utter euphoria, Headingley '19 offered hope when there was none. You're never dead.
Disappointment of the year: Steve Smith applause at Lord's – Reception to the Australia batsman leaving the field, having previously returned after being floored by Jofra Archer, shows we still have a long way to go before concussions and head injuries are taken seriously. It was ignorant and unhelpful.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Barest of margins.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be… Cricket must learn to be more sustainable and environmentally aware. Frivolous and short tours must be ditched to maximise the impact of travel. All international grounds must be plastic-free by 2025 or be removed from the roster. Governing bodies must spend more time looking into the introduction of synthetic balls to replace leather.
Marnus Labuschagne celebrated hundreds in each of his first three innings of the home summer
Test player of the year: Steve Smith. Because Steve Smith.
International white-ball player of the year: Eoin Morgan. Not the best player of 2019 by any stretch, but none of this would ever have happened without his vision.
Test team of the year: Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Neil Wagner, Josh Hazlewood
International white-ball team of the year: Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Pat Cummins, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal
County player of the year: Ryan Higgins – left Middlesex for more opportunities and played a key role in Gloucestershire's promotion. 958 County Championship runs at 59.87 and 50 wickets at 23.64. Has fashioned himself into a new-ball bowler in four-day cricket, while becoming one of the most frugal white-ball death-bowlers around. A terrific cricketer. Honourable mentions to Simon Harmer, Dom Sibley, Adam Rossington, Ben Sanderson and Dane Vilas.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry. Quite simply, the best female player of all time. A dominant Ashes series included a Test hundred and an ODI seven-fer. Until injuring her shoulder against Melbourne Renegades during the Women's Big Bash, she was averaging 93.8 with the bat.
Women's team of the year: Alyssa Healy, Tammy Beaumont, Danni Wyatt, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Chamari Atapattu, Sophie Devine, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Freya Davies, Nattaya Boochatham
Innings of the year: A three-way tie: Ben Stokes at Headingley, Kusal Perera at Durban, Meg Lanning at Chelmsford.
Disappointment of the year: That it's over. Corny as hell, but it really has been mental.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Barest. Of. Margins.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be… (in no particular order) a Jofra Archer Test hundred, Matt Parkinson to get a proper run at international cricket, Ian Smith to work full-time on English cricket, National Counties do enough in their pre-One-Day Cup friendlies to convince the authorities to bring back a one-day knockout competition.
The Cricketer's 50 Most Significant Moments of the Decade: No. 10-1
Test player of the year: Who knew Marnus 'first concussion substitute in Tests' Labuschagne would end up having such an impact on the five-day format in 2019? (Perhaps Glamorgan fans?) Rolled into an Ashes series and produced four straight half-centuries. Has just finished his year by churning out three big hundreds on the spin. Rare consistency.
International white-ball player of the year: Rohit Sharma. Reeling off five centuries at a World Cup is a joke.
Test team of the year: Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, Mohammed Shami
International white-ball team of the year: Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Babar Azam, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Shami
County player of the year: Simon Harmer and Dom Sibley get an approving nod but Gloucestershire's Ryan Higgins punched in a monster shift this summer. The 24-year-old racked up 958 runs – including a career-best 199 against Leicestershire – and took 50 wickets at 23.64 in a sublime campaign.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry. She is running out of other levels to perform on. Utterly dominated the Ashes with some monstrous performances with both bat and ball.
Women's team of the year: Alyssa Healy, Tammy Beaumont, Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Nat Sciver, Sophie Devine, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Sophie Ecclestone, Nattaya Boochatham
Innings of the year: In an ordinary universe, Kusal Perera would have walked this one but Stokes' heart-stopping, nation-halting feat of stratospheric sporting enormity takes it. One of the summer's defining images is that of Stokes – after putting Pat Cummins away for four – punching the sky and the Headingley crowd rising with him to follow suit moments later.
Disappointment of the year: After lighting up the World Cup with some stunning performances, it was a shame to Shakib Al Hasan on the receiving end of a two-year ban for failing to report corrupt approaches.
2019 in three words: Jack Leach's glasses.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be…: That the English domestic cricket schedule doesn't implode and leave us with four half-cooked competitions.
Australia's Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen and Meg Lanning feature in all eight of our women's teams of the year after a dominant 2019 for the Southern Stars
Test player of the year: Steve Smith. An obvious choice. His 774 runs in just four Tests against England helped Australia regain the urn as he emphatically announced his return to Test cricket.
International white-ball player of the year: Ben Stokes. His performances against South Africa (89), Sri Lanka (82 not out), Australia (89) and, of course, New Zealand (84 not out) were fundamental to England winning the World Cup – not to mention his remarkable catch in the opening game.
Test team of the year: Tom Latham, Rory Burns, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood
International white-ball team of the year: Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
County player of the year: Simon Harmer. Was fundamental to Essex's double-winning team by captaining them to T20 Blast glory and taking 83 wickets at 18.29 in the Championship. An easy choice.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry. Who else could it be? Perry dominated the Ashes as leading run-scorer (378 at 94.50) and wicket-taker (15 at 12.86). Another easy choice.
Women's team of the year: Alyssa Healy, Tammy Beaumont, Meg Lanning, Stafanie Taylor, Suzie Bates, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross
Innings of the year: Ben Stokes' 84 not out in the World Cup final. My favourite innings of all time. Stokes' heroics brought England back from the brink and gave them a chance of winning the World Cup. Unbelievable to think he did the same in the Ashes.
Disappointment of the year: James Anderson's Ashes. How much did England miss Anderson during the Ashes? 30 Championship wickets at 9.37 before his season-ending calf injury suggests a lot.
2019 in three words: Barest of margins.
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be…: The Hundred being a major success. It may harm county cricket, but if The Hundred attracts a whole new audience, it could guarantee the future of our beloved sport for generations.
The Cricketer's Quiz of the Year 2019: Part One
Test player of the year: Marnus Labuschagne. For all of Smith's idiosyncrasies, Warner's flat-track brutality, and Kohli's... well, Kohliness, Australia's most super of supersubs earns my crown not just for the 975 runs at 75.00 since stepping into the limelight at Lord's, but also for the transformational impact his presence seems to have had on the world's next number one team.
International white-ball player of the year: Shakib Al Hasan. What an absurd run the Bangladesh talisman had this summer, averaging 93.25 in 11 ODI innings (with just the nine scores of 50-plus) and still finding time to take a wicket a game. His record just makes his actions (or lack thereof) all the more painful, and we can only hope that he returns from his suspension the same player but a better representative for the sport and his country.
Test team of the year: Rory Burns, Mayank Agarwal, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Neil Wagner
International white-ball team of the year: Jason Roy, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Alex Carey, Rashid Khan, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah
County player of the year: Ollie Robinson. Often joined in the Sussex attack by little more than rookies and loanees scrapping around, the metronomic workhorse shouldered the burden to bowl with guile and grit throughout. His 63 County Championship wickets at 16.44 included an unrivalled three ten-fors – two in all-too-rare Sussex wins – and a well-deserved pair of England Lions call-ups, and his return to the Sharks' T20 ranks saw him regularly outshining more fancied teammates.
Women's player of the year: Ellyse Perry, without a second of hesitation.
Women's team of the year: Alyssa Healy, Danni Wyatt, Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Stafanie Taylor, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Freya Davies, Belinda Vakarewa
Innings of the year: Jos Buttler's 110 not out against Pakistan in Southampton was the moment I dared to believe. Buttler came to the crease after 35.1 overs, with England already in fairly strong shape at 211 for 3, before launching a scintillating 55-ball blitz in his first home innings of the summer. As he reached three figures and rocked his bat in homage to his newborn daughter, catapulting England to 373 for 3 with 15 boundaries, I could feel the pain of Fredalo fizzling away.
Disappointment of the year: The powers that be. It was another year in which administrators seemed intent on doing everything within their power to undermine the game, from the farcical rollout of The Hundred to the claustrophobic 10-team World Cup, and one could not move for obtuse decisions like playing the eighth and final women's Test of the decade on an old, benign track in Ciderabad.
Sum up 2019 in three words: Arise Sir Benjamin (regardless of what they actually gave him)
If you had one hope for cricket in 2020, it would be…: Pavel Florin adding to his tally of three T20 international wickets. Giving all T20s between national teams full international status was long overdue, and I have a feeling he'd really suit that Trent Rockets kit next summer...
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