Sportskeeda Cricket Awards 2014: All-rounders of the Year

The year 2014 has seen many ups and downs in cricket. Teams and captains have tried different combinations and players in order to determine their best bets for the World Cup 2015, to be played in Australia and New Zealand starting February 14. Here is a compilation of the cricketers who made their mark this year with both bat and ball. A few names who narrowly missed out on being in the top 5 are Ravi Bopara, Darren Sammy, Moeen Ali, JP Duminy and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

#5 Thisara Perera

Overall Performance

MATCHES RUNS WICKETS ODI 24 395 24 TWENTY20 8 173 3

Thisara Perera continued to impress this year as well, and if we are to go by the Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews’ recent statement, he will be an integral cog in the team’s wheel for the World Cup. What the 25-year-old brings to the table is very valuable, especially in limited overs cricket: he can win the game with his hitting from any situation and is super-handy with the ball with his knack for breaking partnerships at the crucial junctures of the game.

Best Performances

ODI

The 25-year-old’s first good performance of the year came against Bangladesh in an ODI in February, where he blasted a blitzkrieg 80 off just 57 balls to give Sri Lanka a fighting total on a day when every other batsman had failed. Sri Lanka ended the innings with a score of 180 on the board and managed to steal a 13-run win.

He was the Man-of-the-Series in the ODIs against Pakistan in August. The 2nd ODI of the series saw his best coming out, where he blasted 65 off 36 balls coming in at No. 8 and then claimed 3 wickets with his bowling. In the next ODI, he took 4/34 to help dismiss a hapless Pakistan for just 102.

In the final one-day match of the recently concluded ODI series against England, he hit the second-fastest Sri Lankan fifty, off just 23 balls, to help his team score 302.

T20

The Colombo-born’s best Twenty20 outing of the year came against England in May, in a match where he scored 49 off just 20 to give a late impetus to an innings that was threatening to fall apart. His contribution was crucial in what turned to be a low-scoring thriller. He also dismissed the England skipper Eoin Morgan for 5.

#4 Dwayne Bravo

Overall Performance

MATCHES RUNS WICKETS ODI 13 415 20 TWENTY20 13 167 5

Dwayne Bravo played some brilliant cricket this year and did what he does the best: contributing handsomely with both bat and ball and following it up with his very delightful to watch dance moves whenever he was rewarded for his efforts. He scored 415 runs and picked up 20 wickets in the 13 ODI games that he played for his country.

Best Performances

ODI

The Trinidadian started off the year with a bang: he hit a hundred against New Zealand at Hamilton and took the wicket of Martin Guptill in the same game to help the Windies script a 203-run victory and level the series. He shone in the only ODI against Ireland as well, registering 3/36 with the ball and returning to make 35 with the bat to help his team chase a target of 202.

The 31-year-old had a cracker of a series against England, although his efforts were in vain as they lost the series 1-2. He scored 134 runs and took 6 wickets in the 3 games that were played.

His best bowling effort of this year came against Bangladesh in August – figures of 4/32 in the 1st ODI to restrict the opposition’s total to 217, a match where Bangladesh opener Anamul Haque scored a hundred. West Indies won the game by 3 wickets.

T20

As regards his T20 outings, he made a quick-fire 46 off 26 against Pakistan in a group game of the T20 World Cup to help West Indies script an 84-run win. They were ousted in the semi-finals of the tournament by Sri Lanka in a rain-affected game: given a revised target of 108 from 13.5 overs, Bravo was the top-scorer once again scoring 30 off 19, but it was not enough as the other batsmen failed to contribute to the cause.

#3 Ravindra Jadeja

Overall Performance

MATCHES RUNS WICKETS TEST 6 259 12 ODI 17 369 25 TWENTY20 7 10 6

Ravindra Jadeja may not be the most elegant of cricketers going around, but what you cannot ignore is the effort that he puts in. He played a vital role in India's outings this year with his all-round exploits.

The 26-year-old averaged 61.50 with the bat and 32.68 with the ball in ODIs this year.

Best Performances

Tests

The spin bowling all-rounder was in the Test side for India’s tours of New Zealand and England. While he was overshadowed by Ishant Sharma’s 7-wicket haul in the 2nd Test at Lord’s, he had a big role to play, as well, grabbing 2 wickets in the first innings and then scoring a crucial 68 to help set England a winning target of 319.

ODIs

As regards the Saurashtra boy’s ODI exploits, he excelled in both the departments: 369 runs and 25 wickets from 17 games played in 2014. His first big performance came against the Kiwis at Auckland. He first took the wickets of Martin Guptill and Luke Ronchi and then played a handy 65 off 46. With 18 required off the last over, he hit 17 to take India to a tie in a do-or-die game. He also scored 62 off 54 in the following game in a losing cause.

The Asia Cup also saw brilliant performances come from him, but only in vain: against Sri Lanka, he scored 22 and picked up 3 wickets; against Pakistan, he got 52 not out coming late in the innings. India, however, lost both the games.

He had a successful England tour, which also saw his best bowling figures of the year – 4/28 in 7 overs in the 2nd ODI played at Cardiff that India won comfortably by 133 runs. He scored 87 off 68 in the final ODI in a losing cause.

#2 Shakib Al Hasan

Overall Performance

MATCHES RUNS WICKETS TEST 5 424 27 ODI 12 289 21 TWENTY20 9 224 11

Shakib Al Hasan, easily one of the best all-rounders that the game has seen in recent times, averaged 64.73 with the bat in Tests and 16 with the ball in both ODIs and T20s this year.

Best Performances

Tests

In the 2nd Test of the series against Sri Lanka played at Chittagong, Shakib notched up 5 scalps bowling first and followed it up with a fifty with the bat. The second innings also saw him producing a crucial contribution for his side with the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene and a 120-run partnership with Mominul Haque on the 5th day, which ensured that the match ended in a draw.

The 27-year-old’s best Test outing came against Zimbabwe at Khulna: he scored 137 in the first innings to help his team score 433 and took 5 wickets in the first innings to secure a healthy lead of 65 runs. Come the second innings when Zimbabwe needed 314 to win, he repeated the same feat, taking a five-wicket haul to dismiss Zimbabwe cheaply. Needless to say, he was the Man-of-the-Match.

ODIs

The left-arm spinner was the architect of the 87-run win over the same opponents in the 1st ODI of the series that followed, scoring 101 with the bat and taking 4/41 in his 10 overs. Against India at Dhaka, he got a fifty when Bangladesh batted first and also took the wickets of Robin Uthappa and Cheteshwar Pujara, but it was not enough to prevent India from reaching the revised target of 150 from 26 overs.

#1 Angelo Mathews

Overall Performance

MATCHES RUNS WICKETS TEST 11 1201 8 ODI 32 1244 18 TWENTY20 9 126 6

Angelo Mathews, probably, had the best year a cricketer can imagine: more than 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs, wickets in all formats of the game, the team performing well under his leadership and what not!

The 27-year-old averaged 92.38 in Tests and 62.20 in ODIs with the bat this year.

Best Performances

Tests

The fast bowling all-rounder scored 2 Test hundreds this year, both against England in consecutive Tests. The first one came at Lord’s in reply to the home team’s 575 and helped the Test end in a draw. At Headingley, he scored a brilliant 160 in the 2nd innings, this time in a winning cause. England were set a target of 350 to chase and they perished, managing only 249.

ODIs

As far as the ODIs are concerned, Mathews produced quite a few match-winning knocks and, as the team’s skipper, led by example. In the first ODI of the Pakistan tour, he hit 89 off 85 and also got the wickets of Younis Khan and Mohammad Hafeez, but Sohaib Maqsood’s quick-fire innings at the end stole the game away from the Lankans.

He was the sole performer for Sri Lanka in India, a tour which they were heavily unprepared for. They lost 5-0, but he got 2 fifties, a hundred and 4 wickets in the series. In the final at Ranchi where he was the Man-of-the-Match, he tore apart the Indian bowling with a 139 not out off just 116 balls, hitting 10 sixes in his innings. The right-arm medium pacer also got the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma early on, and it needed a heroic ton from stand-in captain Virat Kohli to take the game away from the visitors.

He also performed well in the ODIs against England as Sri Lanka won the 7-match series 5-2 under his captaincy.