The Shorter Wisden 2013 (76 page)

Hesson’s predecessor, John Wright, had completed a 19-month spell at the end of the West Indies tour in August, having signalled his intention to leave in May after struggling to gain the
autonomy he wanted from director of cricket John Buchanan. New Zealand lost all but one of in nine internationals in the Caribbean, but the tour was spared in-depth probing by the media because of
the concurrent success for the Olympic team in London.

Wright’s exit left New Zealand cricket in a melancholic state. A respected former opener, he had helped orchestrate their first Test win over Australia since 1992-93, and their first
appearance in the semi-finals of a subcontinental World Cup, and made some bold selections based on form (Mark Gillespie and Dean Brownlie) and potential (Doug Bracewell and, as wicketkeeper, B-J.
Watling).

The 38-year-old Hesson, a former Otago coach apparently rated highly by New Zealand Cricket for his man-management skills, succeeded Wright for the India tour in August after curtailing his
contract with Kenya in May citing security concerns. New Zealand produced a credible performance under him at the World Twenty20, tying with eventual finalists West Indies and Sri Lanka in the
Super Eights, but they lacked killer instinct.

Individual highlights were thin on the ground. Martin Guptill excelled in the Tests against West Indies, and the limited-overs matches against Zimbabwe, and reached a 69-ball century off the
last delivery to topple South Africa in a Twenty20 match in East London. He completed a sequence of five consecutive international half-centuries against Zimbabwe and South Africa – a feat
previously achieved for New Zealand only by Andrew Jones – but appeared to have developed a mental block converting fifties into hundreds.

Taylor’s batting flourished as captain, with three Test centuries, and Kane Williamson’s unbeaten 102 to draw the Wellington Test against South Africa was among the gutsiest innings
played by a New Zealander, let alone a 21-year-old. The troubled Jesse Ryder opted out of international cricket after an altercation with a member of the public at a Napier hotel in February
– the latest in a long line of indiscretions.

Tim Southee showed glimpses of becoming the attack’s spearhead, with 25 wickets at 22 in six Tests after struggling to hold his place earlier in the year; the highlight was seven for 64 at
Bangalore, New Zealand’s best in India. Trent Boult, still only 23, emerged as Southee’s new-ball partner and, by the end of the year, his Test record stood at 26 wickets from eight
matches.

Bowling coach Damien Wright resigned for family reasons during the India tour, but the pace prospects looked good. Bracewell performed excellently on occasion; Gillespie took two five-fors
against South Africa on his Test comeback; Pretoria-born Neil Wagner, the leading Plunket Shield wicket-taker, qualified for New Zealand through residency; and fellow left-armer Mitchell
McClenaghan showed zest in December’s Twenty20 series defeat by South Africa. At 38, Chris Martin’s international days look numbered, despite passing Chris Cairns as the country’s
third-highest Test wicket-taker.

The man just above him in the list, Daniel Vettori, was hampered by injury, and played only five Tests in 2012. He returned at the World Twenty20, before hobbling away for surgery on his hernia
and Achilles tendon. A long-term spin-bowling successor in Test cricket is yet to be found.

The sport’s administration had an undulating year. Former Test opener David White became NZC chief executive in December 2011, and relocated the support services (including commercial and
marketing) from Christchurch to Auckland. In November, the board reported a better-than-budgeted deficit of $NZ1.87m, thanks mainly to an eight-year deal with Pitch International to sell overseas
media rights for home matches.

However, building a market share in the United States through a proposed Twenty20 league (NZC were a shareholder in Cricket Holdings America) remained problematic. Potential franchisees claimed
the market justified little more than 10% of the $US40m per franchise put forward by NZC.

PAKISTAN CRICKET, 2012

O
SMAN
S
AMIUDDIN

No death. No corruption scandal. No players banned. No players jailed. No ball-tampering uproar. No terror attack. No captaincy palaver. No bust-ups with the ICC. No major
player disputes. No major administrative overhaul. No major catfight with another board. No Ijaz Butt. Could this really have been a year belonging to Pakistan?

For the first time since 2005, their cricket seemed to be at peace with itself. The year wasn’t without issues, but it sure felt as if it had emerged from a long, dark tunnel in which
Pakistan had seemed content just to be, to play, to survive, to move on. In short, it felt cathartic.

Unsurprisingly for those who see a correlation between stable administration and on-field results – nearly everyone else, in other words – Pakistan began the year with their most
significant victory since 2005-06. Then, they had beaten an England side fresh from victory in one of the great modern Test series. In 2012, they beat England as Test cricket’s top-ranked
nation. In fact, they whitewashed them, at their surrogate home in the UAE, though in typically Pakistani fashion: a series won 3–0 could conceivably have been lost 2–1.

But it was fully deserved, a wondrous, fantastical performance and fitting reward for captain Misbah-ul-Haq in particular. Too bland, dull and colourless for many Pakistani tastes, he had calmly
moulded players of a similar outlook and made them into a robust team. Saeed Ajmal was confirmed as the best spinner in world cricket, and Azhar Ali – who twice scored 157 – was a class
act at first drop.

It was all the more reason to lament what followed. At the time, there were two ways of looking at the win against England: as the last, unexpected hurrah of a fine side; or as the beginning of
a new and promising age. It soon became clear it was more likely to be the former. A crucial administrative gaffe had been made over previous years when, in negotiating Future Tours Programme
commitments, the Pakistan Cricket Board came up with a 2012 schedule almost devoid of Tests.

After England, Pakistan played only one more Test series, in Sri Lanka – and that, too, nearly five months later. They lost. And then there was nothing, until a series in South Africa in
February 2013. Other than 2008, when they famously played no Tests at all, their tally of six Tests was their fewest in a year since 2001. This was an old side at their core, and their tightness
was bound to unwind through time and inactivity.

Predictably, they managed many more limited-overs contests, though results were far sketchier. Pakistan lost each of the three bilateral one-day series played entirely in 2012, though they won
memorably in India, in a series that spilled into 2013, and lifted the Asia Cup for the first time in four attempts. And they were impressive at the World Twenty20, losing in the last four to hosts
Sri Lanka. It was their sixth successive ICC tournament semi-final, a handy statistic, but not far from choking territory: they had won only one of those six tournaments. By this point, Misbah
– who turned 38 in May – had already ceded Twenty20 leadership duties to Mohammad Hafeez; it was assumed he would do the same in 50-over cricket some time in 2013.

Off the field, it was tempting to see an Ijaz Butt-free year as a triumph. But in reality, any assessment of Zaka Ashraf, his successor as PCB chairman, required greater nuance. A battle-scarred
former board official struck the right mood in likening Ashraf to homeopathic medicine: “You’re not sure whether he’s done any good or bad, or anything at all. He’s like a
placebo.”

Prime among his gains would appear to be the partial resumption of ties with India. When Pakistan toured there at the end of the year to play two Twenty20s and three one-day internationals, it
was the first bilateral engagement between the two in five cold years scarred by the Mumbai terror attacks. It was a real breakthrough, too, given the financial benefits of playing India. But how
much was it Ashraf’s doing, and how much simply part of a broader thaw between the two countries, compelled by politicians upon the BCCI in particular?

The much-discussed return of international cricket to Pakistan produced fewer results, though again there was little Ashraf could do. He got close with Bangladesh, only to be burned twice. The
fault lay with the duplicitous approach of Bangladesh officials, not with the final decision or Ashraf’s intent.

But when an international XI of retired, cast-off and Associate cricketers travelled to Karachi for two Twenty20s in October, it seemed like a minor triumph – except that the matches were
the work of Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, a cricket-mad surgeon, patron and provincial sports minister. The PCB refused to sanction them. But they did allow use of the National Stadium and, once the
matches passed by without incident and with huge, throbbing crowds, they pretended they’d been involved. That tour was preceded by six months by the visit of a British Universities side to
Lahore (featuring several players of Pakistani descent), but they came without the blessing of either the ECB or MCC.

Soon the financial crunch of no home games (and no full India series in five years) will begin to bite. A senior PCB official believes a new broadcast deal in 2013, and revenues from the 2011
World Cup (which Pakistan didn’t host, but for which they received a hosting-rights fee) are enough for two more years. Against this backdrop, the announcement of a fortnight-long Pakistan
Super League (scheduled to start on March 26, 2013) took on greater significance. But in February, the PCB postponed the tournament, ostensibly to allow investors more time to buy the five
franchises. The Federation of International Cricketers Associations, however, maintained that the PSL would pose “an unmanageable” security risk. The postponement struck a rare note of
disruption in a year of relative sanity.

For the time being, at least, craziness has been loaned out to New Zealand Cricket.

SOUTH AFRICAN CRICKET, 2012

C
OLIN
B
RYDEN

South Africa ignored boardroom uncertainty to put together arguably their best year in Test cricket. Unbeaten in ten matches, they won all four series – three away from
home – to finish 2012 as the undisputed No. 1 team in the world. Victories at home against Sri Lanka, followed by wins in New Zealand, England – the team they deposed at the top of the
rankings – and Australia vindicated the unorthodox approach of their coach, Gary Kirsten, who placed the emphasis on mental freshness rather than physical preparation. Although most of the
team had not played first-class cricket for more than three months, South Africa had only one two-day match and one first-class three-day fixture before their Test series against England. The main
event of their build-up had been a team-building exercise in Switzerland with the Johannesburg-born mountaineer and adventurer Mike Horn, who had worked with Kirsten before, during his stint as
coach of India. The Alpine adventure evidently had the desired effect of energising and motivating the players.

Despite struggling in the field on the first day at The Oval, South Africa then came as close to the perfect Test match against credible opposition as possible, winning by an innings while
losing only two wickets, and celebrating Hashim Amla’s epic unbeaten 311, the first Test triple-century by a South African. When a hard-earned victory in the Third Test at Lord’s
settled the series, England handed over the ICC mace.

As in 2008, triumph in England was followed by a tour of Australia – and, once again, South Africa were able to complete a remarkable double. On this occasion, though, there were
legitimate grounds to wonder if they had gone into the three-match series with sufficient physical preparation. After a less than convincing warm-up game against Australia A, their bowlers took a
pummelling in the First Test at Brisbane, although defeat was never likely after the second day was washed out.

Australia then dominated the Second Test, at Adelaide, with Michael Clarke making his second successive double-century, and seemed set for victory when South Africa, set an improbable 430, ended
the fourth day on 77 for four. But Francois du Plessis – “Faf” to almost everyone – led a remarkable rearguard action on Test debut to steer South Africa to safety with two
wickets to spare. On the only pitch which gave their fast bowlers any assistance, they then gained a huge win in the decisive Test, at Perth.

Impressively solid batting and a potent fast-bowling attack had been the foundation of their success. A top five of Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Amla, Jacques Kallis and A. B. de Villiers made
4,463 runs between them at an average of nearly 58. Amla headed the list, with 1,064 runs at 70, including four centuries – two each against England and Australia – and Kallis was not
far behind, with 944 at 67. Petersen underlined his value as Smith’s opening partner, and it was a measure of South Africa’s success that his 815 runs at almost 48 made him the least
successful of the quintet. Kallis missed one Test because of injury, but the other four played in all ten.

A horrific eye injury which ended the career of long-serving wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had the unintended consequence of strengthening the batting, as de Villiers took the gloves and South
Africa were able to field seven batsmen. J-P. Duminy took advantage of his opportunities, first when Kallis was injured in New Zealand, then as the extra batsman in England, and averaged 90 before
he ruptured an Achilles tendon while warming down after the opening day of the Test series in Australia. But that simply opened the door for du Plessis. The performances at No. 6 of Jacques Rudolph
(435 runs at 39) were relatively modest.

The pace trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander took 120 of the 160 wickets claimed by South African bowlers during the year, despite operating mainly on unhelpful pitches. But
Imran Tahir’s leg-spin proved less effective, and he was dropped for Perth, where slow left-armer Robin Peterson, a perennial tourist but seldom a Test cricketer, made an impressive
comeback.