By the end of a year where Australia continued to remain supreme as the leading Test and one-day side, it was easy to think little had changed in world cricket.
They won a third straight World Cup and, after a run of 14 consecutive Test wins, they were closing in on their own world record of 18 ahead of the start of their series with India.
In January, Australia completed only the second 5-0 Ashes whitewash, more than avenging their narrow 2-1 reverse of two years earlier.
After the end of the latest Ashes, in Sydney, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, who between them took 1,271 Test wickets, retired from the five-day game along with opening batsman Justin Langer.
Warne had singlehandedly revived the fading art of leg-spin and in so doing showed how slow bowlers could be an attacking force. His haul of 708 Test wickets was a then world record and few disputed his right to be regarded as the greatest wrist-spinner the game had known.
If the success of McGrath, who carried on to the World Cup, was achieved by more conventional means, it was no less important to Australia.
As reserved away from the pitch as Warne was colorful, McGrath elevated the traditional virtues of line and length into something approaching an art form and his tally of 563 Test wickets was the most by any pace bowler.
Warne's record though was surpassed by extraordinary Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan whose unorthodox action continues to divide opinion.
Whether Murali reaches his goal of 1,000 Test wickets remains to be seen but he may have already have an unbeatable total.
The death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, found unconscious in his Jamaica hotel room on March 18, the day after his side's shock World Cup defeat against Ireland, led to a raft of conspiracy theories involving illegal betting syndicates in Asia after police launched a murder inquiry, saying the 58-year-old former England player had been strangled.
However, Woolmer was known to have suffered with diabetes and high blood pressure and last month an inquest jury returned an open verdict on his death.
On the field, the first World Cup to be staged in the Caribbean suffered from being too long and from having too many lopsided contests.
India and Pakistan's first round exits were a blow to organisers hoping fans of those two well-supported teams would help fill out the several brand new stadiums built specially for the World Cup.
The decision to price many local fans out of the market for World Cup tickets was belatedly acknowledged as an error.
So too was barring them, if they didn't have written permission, from bringing the musical instruments which helped distinguish cricket in the Caribbean from anywhere else.
The combined effect was to ensure that even big games were played out in front of meagre crowds in a soulless atmosphere.
It was in such an environment that Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq made a tearful exit from one-day cricket.
Amidst repeated examples of ruthless Australian professionalism, captain Ricky Ponting leading the way, others also shone briefly with Lasith Malinga taking four wickets in as many balls for Sri Lanka against South Africa and Bangladesh beating India.
Adam Gilchrist's century, a commanding display of clean-hitting, should have been the abiding memory of the World Cup final.
But it was overshadowed by the ridiculous sight of the showpiece being completed in the Bridgetown darkness.
By contrast the far more concise inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa, where India beat rivals Pakistan in a tense final, was hailed as a success.
However, India batsman Yuvraj Singh's six sixes in an over off England's Stuart Broad were symptomatic of how heavily biased the fledgling format was in favor of batsmen.
The Twenty20 era pretty much passed Brian Lara by, to the relief of bowlers everywhere.
He retired after the World Cup as Test cricket's leading run-scorer -- an achievement all the more impressive by his playing in a largely weak side.
Whatever his leadership skills, there was no denying the majesty of Lara's batting which, at its height, saw him make match-winning hundreds full of thrilling strokpelay against even Australia's attack.
India enjoyed its first Test series win in England for 21 years with a maiden hundred from spinner Anil Kumble their lone century.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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