Five highs of 2002
Ntini helped get SA’s 2002 off to a good start
By Scott Heinrich
BBC Sport Online
Makhaya Ntini, 1st VB Series final, South Africa v New Zealand
As if an Aussie one-day triangular final without the hosts wasn’t special enough, Makhaya Ntini lit up the first match with a stunning performance.
The paceman returned figures of five for 31, inspiring South Africa to an eight-wicket win that they followed up with an equally emphatic win in Sydney.
Ntini’s movement off the seam was impeccable, and the Kiwis were effectively snuffed out when both openers succumbed to the quick in the first few overs.
It was the start of a fine year for Ntini, one in which he came of age and eased into the strike bowler’s slot made vacant by Allan Donald.
South Africa v Australia Test series
The Clash of the Titans was a Test series to set cricket fans the world over salivating with expectation.
Australia cemented their spot at the top of the tree
It followed Australia’s triumph at home and gave South Africa chance for swift redemption - not to mention top billing on the ICC Test Championship if successful.
In the end, South Africa were put firmly in their place as Australia won the first two Tests before dropping the dead third by five wickets.
As a contest, the clash probably didn’t befit the pre-series hype. But at least it ended debate over who was the best Test team in the world.
Michael Vaughan v ‘Allcomers’
Vaughan burned in the English summer, hitting four centuries against Sri Lanka and India to announce his arrival as a world class Test opener.
Vaughan gave bowlers a torrid time in 2002
The Yorkshireman showed he had not stopped progressing with a lovely 177 in Adelaide.
Only Sachin Tendulkar has scored more runs this year, but Vaughan can take top spot if he adds 36 runs or more in the fourth Ashes Test to the 1,325 he has in the bag.
Vaughan is still capable of digging in, but a newborn expansiveness to his strokeplay has unsurprisingly coincided with his advent on the world scene.
And happily for England, his relationship with fellow opener Marcus Trescothick appears an enduring one.
NatWest Series final, England v India
A cracking contest which contained everything that defines the modern one-day game.
Hussain drives his three points home
India chased down 326 in a thrilling match that neither side deserved to lose, but one that England contrived to after a loose bowling display.
With Messrs Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ganguly and Dravid back in the dressing room, England suddenly emptied as Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh helped get India home in the last over.
It was an important away win for India, while England skipper Nasser Hussain’s colourful celebration upon reaching his ton - at number three, if you don’t recall - was a sight to behold.
West Indies’ one-day series win in India
How the West Indies have been missed.
Gayle starred for the Windies in India
Not disgraced in the Test series, a young Windies unit covered themselves in glory in the one-dayers and stole the headlines away from the unsavoury behaviour of the crowds.
After Carl Hooper’s troops won the first two matches, it all boiled down to the seventh and final game.
A 135-run win in Vijayawada and a series win was no more than they deserved.
Caribbean stars abounded, with Ramnaresh Sarwan averaging over 100 and Chris Gayle winning man-of-the-series honours with 455 runs.
And with young quick Jermaine Lawson promising much, the Windies are all of a sudden live outsiders for the World Cup.
FIVE LOWS OF 2002
England’s heads drop as they remember Ben Hollioake
By Scott Heinrich
BBC Sport Online
Ben Hollioake’s death
The cricket world was shocked in March when a car accident in West Australia tragically claimed the life of Ben Hollioake.
Before the crash Hollioake’s England career had been far from over, and the team in the middle of a Test in New Zealand finished the match with only half of a heavy heart.
Hollioake’s brother Adam contemplated retirement from the game, but carried on and proceeded to skipper Surrey to championship success.
He named his daughter, who was born in May, Bennaya, a joining of the words Ben and his dead brother’s girlfriend Janaya, who was seriously injured in the crash.
Bomb blast in Karachi
A suicide bomb attack at New Zealand’s hotel in Karachi cut short the Kiwis’ tour of Pakistan.
Fleming was reduced to tears on his return home
It also cut short the lives of 14 people and showed that cricket was not exempt from the danger of our times.
No team has toured Pakistan since then, leading the Pakistan Cricket Board to make seven-figure compensation claims to the ICC for revenue lost.
None of his team were injured, but New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said memories of the blast will haunt him forever.
“I saw things people shouldn’t see,” a tearful Fleming said on his return home.
Champions Trophy final
Cricket, always at the mercy of the elements, came off second best as the Champions Trophy was denied a satisfactory resolution.
Weather won the day in the Champions Trophy final
It was not through lack of trying, with the decider between Sri Lanka and India twice rescheduled to no avail as torrential rain persisted in Colombo.
It denied local fans a much-anticipated sub-continental showdown and resulted in the trophy being shared.
Leading Indian cricket figures called for a rule change after their team were twice forced to forfeit commanding positions in order for the matches to be re-started the following day.
First day of first Ashes Test
It is not often that five-Test series are decided in one day.
Hussain rued his decision to send Australia in to bat
But if England held out much hope of an upset after a shattering first day in Brisbane, they were alone.
England won the toss, but Australia may as well have after they hammered 364 runs for the loss of only two wickets.
It banished any vestiges of Ashes hype at a stroke - and proved a reliable precursor to what was to follow as England lost the series in three Tests.
Crowd trouble in India
The first three one-dayers in West Indies’ triumphant series win were blighted by crowd disturbances.
Windies playersw feared for their safety in India
Bottles were thrown onto the pitch and fires lit in the stands in the opening match and Windies’ fielder Ramnaresh Sarwan was struck by missiles in the next.
Tensions reached boiling point in the third game when a bottle thrown at Vasbert Drakes prompted the visitors to march off the pitch and end the match.
The Duckworth-Lewis method was controversially used to determine the result, with India gaining a pyrrhic victory.
A West Indies protest was dismissed, but their disappointment was short-lived as they went on to win the series.