2015 Test Awards

With the new year now a week old, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on last year and present the 2015 West Indies Cricket Forum Test Awards

Batsman of the year: Kane Williamson. Smith and Root were deserving in their own right, but Williamson and his 90+ average and 9 scores of 50+ put him over the top.

Bowler of the year: Ravi Ashwin. Hazlewood, Broad and Yasir Shah were all worthy candidates but Ashwin, despite appearing in just 9 matches, finished the year with the most wickets (62) and an historically low strike rate (36.4). Many a South African batsman will be waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night reliving the terror he caused.

Team of the year: England won the Ashes and no team won more matches than Australia, but my team of the year goes to India. They drubbed South Africa and Sri Lanka and drew two Tests with Australia in Australia.

Knock of the year: Although Ross Taylor's 290 against Australia is perhaps the obvious answer, I present the award to Younis Khan for his match and series winning 4th innings score of 171 not out against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Warner's 253 against New Zealand at Perth, Smith's 215 against England and Stokes' fastest-ever hundred at Lord's are also worthy of a mention.

Bowling performance of the year: The easiest decision of the year - Stuart Broad's 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge as England skittled Australia out for 60. Special mention, to Yasir Shah for his 7 for 76 against Sri Lanka.

Young player of the year: Of all players 23 and under, Jermaine Blackwood was the stand out performer with a maiden Test century and four scores of 50+. Honourable mentions to Jason Holder and Tharindu Kaushal.

Surprise of the year: South Africa's complete free-fall. They started the year as the best Test playing team and finished 2015 with just 1 win. They were the only team to lose to the West Indies in 2015 and had a collective team batting average of 20.33.

Poorest decision of the year: Hashim Amla leaving a straight length ball from Jadeja that crashed into middle strump takes some beating but Nigel Long's shocking not out decision at Adelaide when Hot Spot clearly showed an edge takes home the award.

Biggest disappointment of the year: There are a number of candidates here: JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis lookng lost at the crease with just 1 fifty between them, the continued woeful form of Ian Bell that eventually led to him being dropped, Jonathan Trott's miserable return to Test cricket and Kemar Roach (an average of 80 and strike rate of 124).

The "winner" of this award, however, is Michael Clarke. Injuries ravaged his body and left him a shell of his former self as he averaged 21 with a high score of 47. He also captained an Australian team that lost the Ashes to an England team coming off the humiliation of failing to make it out of the group stages of the World Cup.