Josh Hazlewood‘s 5 for 8 in Adelaide, and Ajinkya Rahane‘s, series-levelling century in the next Test, in Melbourne, have taken the Test category honours in the 14th edition of the ESPNcricinfo Awards.
Rahane’s innings beat competition from Jermaine Blackwood’s comeback 95 in West Indies’ memorable win in Southampton, and Ben Stokes’ patient 176 – his highest Test score at home – at Old Trafford in the same series.
Hazlewood’s haul came in India’s 36 all out, their lowest Test total. His closest rivals for the award were Kyle Jamieson (5 for 45 vs India in Christchurch) and Shannon Gabriel (5 for 75 vs England in Southampton).
Jamieson made up by picking up the award for best debutant for his 31 international wickets from 16 innings, which included 25 Test wickets at 14.44 that were instrumental in taking New Zealand to No. 1 in the ICC rankings.
Only 44 ODIs were played in 2020, less than a third of the 2019 number, but they threw up enough performances for our jury to mull over.
Jonny Bairstow and Lockie Ferguson win T20I awards, Jamieson named debutant of the year
After winning the T20I batting award for two years in a row, this year Glenn Maxwell picked up the ODI one for his 90-ball 108 at Old Trafford. Batting at No. 7, he rescued Australia from a top-order slide and handed England their first bilateral series defeat at home since 2015.
The ODI bowling award went to Blessing Muzarabani for his maiden five-for in the tied game in Rawalpindi. Muzarabani first dismissed top scorer Babar Azam to tie the game and then returned in the Super Over to take two wickets and give his batsmen an easy three runs to chase.
While in previous years a jury of former players – among them Michael Hussey, Daniel Vettori, Daren Ganga, Isa Guha, Ramiz Raja, Daryll Cullinan, Shahriar Nafees, Ajit Agarkar and Mark Nicholas – and ESPNcricinfo editors voted on the best performances in the three men’s international formats, women’s and Associates cricket, this edition of the awards was restricted to elite men’s and women’s cricket, and the jury was picked from ESPNcricinfo’s senior staff.
Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 99 might have taken England to the No. 1 spot in the T20I rankings, but the jury picked another England innings at the same venue from the same series. In Cape Town, Jonny Bairstow showed that a demotion from opening was not going to affect his run-scoring, making an imperious 86 not out at No. 4 and sealing the win with a big six over mid-on.
Lockie Ferguson picked up the T20I bowling award for a career-best 5 for 21 against West Indies in Auckland, a spell in which he triggered a collapse of five wickets for one run.
Women’s cricket suffered many more cancellations and postponements than men’s cricket in 2020, with only 16 internationals played outside the T20 World Cup – which produced the batting and bowling winners in the awards. Alyssa Healy‘s rollicking 39-ball 75 in the final was chosen over her opening partner Beth Mooney’s unbeaten 78 in the same game. And the bowling award went to India legspinner Poonam Yadav for her 4 for 19 in the opening game – the only defeat Australia faced in the tournament.
