Another season of glorious feats of human endeavour

As the sporting year draws to a close, we attempt to look back on the highlights of yet another season of glorious feats of human endeavour, both in team as well as in individual sport.
In cricket, 2011 marked the ascendancy of England as the best team in the sport. Their comprehensive 3-1 shellacking of Australia in the Ashes series marked them as one of the best ever teams that England has had. The first Test was drawn with the two sides splitting the next two before England drew comfortably away in the fourth and fifth Tests. England had also won the 2009 Ashes in England by two Tests to one.

Pakistan encouraging
There were some encouraging performances for Pakistan. They drew the Test series with the West Indies and defeated Sri Lanka in the Tests played in the UAE. They then blitzed the hapless Bangladesh team, winning all matches comprehensively. Pakistan’s bowling attack, especially the spinners, are proving to be match winners. The batting, anchored by skipper Misbah ul Haq and Younus Khan is looking increasingly stable. In 2012, they should be challenging for the top positions.
In another important series, the Sri Lankans are finding the South African pace attack more than a handful. In the first set, the pace trio of Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were simply too good on a green wicket. Philander is rapidly emerging as the find of the year, his bowling statistics bordering on the phenomenal. He already has four five wicket hauls in his first few Tests at an average of less than fifteen. Steyn swung the ball both ways at express pace while Morkel banged the ball down from a height.
India are due to take on Australia in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. In the summer India had been whitewashed by England in the seaming English conditions. India are feeling the absence of star pacer Zaheer Khan and are likely to struggle with the bat against the young Australian pacers.

Back in the Champions, Pakistan crash
Pakistan crashed out of the Champions’ Trophy hockey event, losing all their group matches and finishing at the bottom. Ever since the artificial turfs squeezed the artistry out of the sport and turned into an athletic and power spectacle, the sub-continental teams have struggled against the faster and stronger Europeans and Australians. The sport has become more of a niche sport in Pakistan as compared to cricket which is richly sponsored.

Tiger still in the woods
In golf, Charl Schwartzel won the Augusta Masters on the 50th anniversary of compatriot Gary Player’s first Masters win. Unheralded Irishman Darren Clarke won the British Open while Rory McIlroy atoned for his stunning collapse at Augusta by taking the US Open for his first major, surely the first of many. Tiger Woods continued the struggle with his game and his internal demons and eventually won a title late in the season although he was not a force in the Majors.

It was between Djokovic & Federer
Novak Djokovic fashioned one of the greatest seasons in tennis by winning the three of the four Grand Slam events. Only Roger Federer was there to spoil what was till then an unbeaten season, at the French Open. He then saved two match points to beat Federer and Nadal in a nervy final at the US Open. Federer finished the year strongly by winning the Swiss Open, Bercy in Paris and the year-end Masters in London.
This was an improved version of Federer and it seems that the challenges posed by Djokovic and Nadal are making him reach deeper down and play better than he ever has. He will be looking with optimism at 2012. Although past thirty, his effortless style is the reason for his longevity.

Czech star
In women’s tennis, Petra Kvitova became yet another star from a country that has among others given us Navratilova and Novotna. A strapping six foot tall youngster, Kvitova has the technique, power and lack of fear that has enabled her to overpower her challengers, including the underperforming Caroline Wozniacki who continues to be number one without having won a major. Considering her lack of winning shots, she can only hope to win one if the draw opens up for her.

All Blacks triumph
The 7th Rugby World Cup was won by hosts New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in a closely fought final. South Africa, the defending champions, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. China continued their domination of table tennis by winning everything on offer at the World Table Tennis Championships. The Chinese were winners and finalists in all events played and underlined their supremacy over the Europeans.

Bolt’s shock and awe
In the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Daegu, South Korea, the United States topped the medal positions. The shock of the event was the disqualification of the odds-on favourite in the 100 meters, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt due to the controversial change in the starting rules in which an athlete is defaulted on his first false start. Bolt then won the 200 meters in an astonishing 19.4 seconds and his relay team set the world record in the 4×100 relay. In boxing, England’s Amir Khan suffered a shock defeat to American Lamont Peterson who took the WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles from the Bolton fighter with a controversial, split-decision victory. Amir was docked two penalty points and these proved to be the difference in a bitterly contested decision. Amir’s subsequent protest against the decision was turned down. This was Amir’s second loss in professional boxing and he is now considering moving up to the welterweight division from next year. Amir’s family hails from a village on the outskirts of Rawalpindi and because of this he has a large following in Pakistan. In Major League baseball, the St.Louis Cardinals won Major League Baseball’s best-of-seven championship final four games to three to take their second World Series in five years after trailing the series 3-2 heading back to St. Louis for game six. The Rangers were twice within an out of taking the Championships in the sixth game but some heroics by David Freese for St. Louis in the epic game-six victory, had a two-run double in the first inning for the Cardinals in the decider.