Performances of the Decade

[Gambit]

It's been a decade of delight of the batsmen and destruction for the bowlers. List what you think are the best performances in tests and ODIs this decade. Here are mine - Test Best match - India v Australia Eden Garden's 2001 closely followed by Edgbaston Ashes '05 Best innings - VVS 281 closely followed by Ponting's 156 at Trent Bridge Ashes '05 Best bowling - Warne at Adelaide Ashes '06 closely followed by McGrath Lord's Ashes '05 ODIs Best match - I have no idea. Best innings - Ponting's 140* '03 WC final closely followed by SRT's 98 v Pak WC '03 Best bowling - Murali Kartik's 6fer at Mumbai '07 v Australia closely followed by Bond's 6fer v Australia WC '03

[vvvslaxman]

Kaneria for equalling Richards and Sobers for maximum centuries against India.

[Desi Cartman]

Best Match has to be Saf Vs Aus .. where Aussies set a record target and Afrikaans chased it

[Mr. Wicket]

Tests for the moment. Best match: India/Aus at Eden Gardens in 01 Runner up: India/Aus at Chennai in 01 If you need reasoning, please get your head checked. Best innings: Dravid's 148 at Leeds in 02, simply because of the brutality of the conditions for the first 30 runs of his knock. Anyone who watches a replay will see balls kicking up off the pitch viciously, gripping in moisture and moving about sharply off the seam and Dravid relying on brilliant judgement and real guts (he got his on the arms and body a LOT of times). Runner up: Steve Waugh at the Oval in 2001. There are innings by Lara, VVS, Tendulkar and even Ponting that are more 'entertaining' and watchable, but like the Dravid knock - Waugh's innings basically sums up the man perfectly. He scored a hundred on ONE ****ING LEG. The man had a hole torn in a calf muscle, was limping through most of his innings and relying on crude slogs and hoicks at various other times when he couldn't run without some serious pain - and yet scored 157* for his final innings in England. Legend. Partnership of the decade: Dravid and Laxman at Eden Gardens in 2001 Runner up: Tendulkar and Laxman at Wankhede in 2004 gets a nod over the corresponding RSD/VVSL partnership at Adelaide, just because of the nature of the pitch by then. Bowling spell of the decade: McGrath at Lord's in 05. Runner up: Kumble at Chennai in 04 v. Australia. Please read Shwetabh's fantastic article in ICF Magic Moments of Cricket (#3) for more detail with his typical eloquence. Best fielding display: Mark Waugh in Chennai in 2001. Anytime the ball was being hit NEAR him I had reason to be scared. Best wicketkeeping display: Chris Read at the MCG and SCG in 06/07. Faultless, seamless glovework that was a masterclass in perfect foot movement, anticipation, sharp reactions and perfect keeping techniques to seamers and spinners. But of course he didn't score enough so he got dropped soon after. :wall: Innings defeat of the decade: Matthew Hayden at Sharjah in 02. Best piece of captaincy: MS Dhoni giving up the captain's duties temporarily to Gangluddin in his final test. Amazing moment.

[Dark Warrior]

^^

Best piece of captaincy: MS Dhoni giving up the captain's duties temporarily to Gangluddin in his final test. Amazing moment.

:two_thumbs_up: