For Australian cricket fans, the start of a new calendar year could not come quick enough. A chance to leave the debacle that was 2018 behind. After beginning the year with a comprehensive innings victory to wrap up the Ashes 4-0 at the SCG, it all soon would be forgotten about, as Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith would be suspended for 9-12 months, and Australian cricket be thrown under the rightfully deserved scrutiny that comes with systematic, predetermined cheating.

With the New Year almost upon us, lets take a look back at the Best, and Worst, in the world of cricket in 2018.

HIGHS

From ten to twelve: Afghanistan and Ireland complete first Test matches.

Afghanistan and Ireland have their inaugural Test matches after being elevated from Associate Members to Full Membership status by the ICC in 2017.

Ireland were the first to take the field, giving Pakistan an almighty scare in Malahide, Dublin, before falling to a narrow five-wicket win.

Expectations were high for Afghanistan’s first Test Match as a result of Irelands near miss, and the recent white ball form of Afghanistan. However, matching up against the worlds best side in India was too much to ask of the new comers at Bengaluru with the Afghans falling to an innings defeat.

In 2019, both sides will have the opportunity for a maiden test win when the sides meet in Northern India for three T20I’s, five ODI’s and a one off Test starting on St Patrick’s Day.

LOWS

AUSTRALIA’S ‘SANDPAPERGATE’ CONTROVERSY

Ask any cricket fan around the world what has been the lowest point for Test cricket, and cricket in general, in recent memory and not a single one would look past the Australian Test side being caught ball tampering in South Africa in early 2018. In fact, you could ask non cricket fans, in Tibet, and 9 out of 10 would know of ‘Sandpapergate’.

This article could just be about this moment of the year, but there has already been enough said, and will be another time to delve into it in more depth in at a later point.

When South African broadcasters caught Australian opener Cameron Bancroft dropping a yellow piece of material, later found to be sandpaper, into his trousers, no one would have expected the fall out. A poorly timed press conference mid test with skipper Steve Smith saw Smith hand back the captaincy mid test, with Tim Paine taking over during the Third Test.

An in-depth investigation saw Cricket Australia ban Cameron Bancroft for 9 months, and Steve Smith and David Warner for 12 months, whilst Paine would officially become the nation’s 45th Test Captain.

SURPRISE OF THE YEAR

AB DE VILLIERS SHOCK RETIREMENT

In 2018, we saw some legends of the game put away their creams for a final time, with England’s all time leading run scorer Alistair Cook, and Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath pulling up stumps.

However, the shock retirement of South Africa’s best player, AB de Villiers surprised cricket fans around the world the most, with AB citing the pressures of an ever-increasing schedule the reason behind his decision.

What made the call such a bitter pill to swallow for South African cricket fans is the fact that he was still at the top of his game, and at just 34 years of age he would have played a significant part in South Africa’s 2019 World Cup run.

LIMITED-OVERS BATSMAN OF THE YEAR

ROHIT SHARMA

While Virat Kohli amassed another 1200 runs, with six centuries and was the top run scorer in the ODI format, his vice-captain Rohit Sharma takes this honour after a astounding 2018.

Scoring 1,030 runs, with five centuries, Sharma averaged over 73. This combined with his 600 runs from 18 innings in T20I. Rohit scored another two T20 tons, which puts his career total to four in this format, which is just mindblowing.

These numbers saw him finish the year ranked #2 in each of the Limited Overs Formats, but, we believe Sharma overall proved himself as the world’s best Limited-Overs batsman.

LIMITED-OVERS BOWLER OF THE YEAR

RASHID KHAN

The 20 year-old Afghani leg-spinner had a prolific 2018 in both ODI and T20 formats as he continued to rise amongst the international ranks.

In One Day Internationals, Rashid finished the year with as the highest wicket-taker with 48 wickets at 14.45, and an economy rate of 3.89.

His T20I record was worthy of note also, another 22 wickets at 8.68, which was the lowest average of all bowlers with over 8 wickets in the format.

It’s no surprise to see he’s ranked number 1 in T20I cricket, and number 2 in the ODI format.

As Afghanistan begin to play more international cricket as a result of their promotion to full ICC status, expect to see Rashid Khan to feature as a key bowler in all three formats in the coming years.

TEST BATSMAN OF THE YEAR

VIRAT KOHLI

The Indian captain enjoyed another stellar year in both Test and ODI cricket, with his performances in red ball cricket being the biggest highlight of Kohli’s year.

Finishing 2018 as the formats top run scorer with 1,322 runs at 55.08, including 5 centuries and 5 half centuries from 24 innings. Four of his five centuries were scored overseas in South Africa, England and Australia, making his achievements even more impressive.

The 29 year old finished the year ontop of the ICC Test Batting Ranking, and reached the highest rating ever achieved by an Indian batsman.

TEST BOWLER OF THE YEAR

MOHAMMAD ABBAS AND KAGISO RABADA

Special mention must go to Jasprit Bumrah, who in the recent Australia-India Test series announcing himself to the world in the premier format, however the year belong to both Mohammad Abbas of Pakistan and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, who both stood head and shoulders above the rest of the field.

Abbas managed to pick up 38 wickets from only 7 tests, at the incredible average of just 13.76. The 29 year old picked up 8 wickets in Pakistan’s famous win over England at Lord’s and he was unstoppable against Australia in the UAE where he bagged 17 wickets in just two matches.

For Rabada, it was another year of stepping up out of the shadows of Steyn and Morkel, Rabada finished the year untop of the wicket taking list, picking up 52 wickets from just 10 matches, with an average just a tick over twenty (20.07). His 11 wicket haul in the second test against Australia in March this year helped the home side level the series, in what was both a series changing spell, and the most over-looked individual performance of 2018 with ‘sandpapergate’ only a few days away.