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Goodbye 2020: Here are the 5 best Test bowling performances from the year

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2020 was a drought year for cricket, especially Test cricket. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, many tours and series got cancelled. When there was a relenting of lockdowns, cricket boards focussed on getting the T20 cash cow tournaments going. 

Still, the year produced some solid, highly-watchable Test cricket. There were several memorable individual performances that would stick in the minds of cricket fans who watched it. 

Bowlers enjoyed success as much as batsmen. For all the talk of batsmen ruling the roost in this sport, both spinners and pacers continue to make a big impression in Tests. The year saw Naseem Shah become the yougest bowler to take a Test hat-trick while Australia condemned India to their lowest-ever Test score. 

It also featured impressive debuts from Kyle Jamieson and Mohammad Siraj and reassertion of class by the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. The year ended with the superhuman effort of Neil Wagner in bowling with two fractured toes and taking two crucial wickets for his team

But, as we look forward to a bright new year, with possibilities of more great bowling efforts, let's take a glance at the year gone by and recount the five most impressive bowling performances in the Test format that took place in it. It's not necessarily the wickets only that determine what a good performance is, but also the context and the quality. 

5. Ben Stokes (3/35 vs South Africa, Cape Town)

For anyone to understand why Stokes is so special, watching the final day's play in the second Test between England and South Africa at Cape Town on January 7 would have been highly valuable. 

South Africa were looking to save the Test as the target of 438 was well beyond their reach once they were 7/237 in the final session. Then came one of those tight finishes only a Test match could offer. Proteas' lower order fought hard to save the match. 

The pitch was flat, England's leading strike bowler James Anderson was unfit, and the batsmen, led by the doughty Vernon Philander, were determined. Things didn't seem easy for the visiting side. 

Then, Stokes stepped up and bowled his heart out on a thankless wicket. First, he gobbled the wickets of Dwaine Pretorious and Anrich Nortje off successive deliveries to leave South Africa 9-down. Then, four overs later, he got a delivery to rise uncomfortably to take the glove of Philander and end up in the hands of the gully fielder. 

3/35 in 23.4 overs may not look stunning. But words and numbers cannot do justice to that herculean effort by Stokes as he relentlessly went on seeking a victory for his team and earned it despite the pitch providing no help whatsoever to any bowler. 

4. Shannon Gabriel (5/75 vs England, Southampton)

Shannon Gabriel's lion-heartedness has always been admired. This quality came to the fore again during his team's tour to England. In the first Test, on the fourth day, West Indies were looking to restrict the target England were setting for them for the fourth innings. 

Gabriel rose to the challenge and bowled his heart out to restrict England to just 313, thereby giving his team a target of only 200, which they chased down successfully. 

The brilliance of Gabriel's spell lay in his unrelenting energy and fierce probing of batsmen's technique. Known for having decent pace and hitting the deck hard, the bulky pacer got through the lower order quickly as well to ensure the target did not go beyond England's means. 

3. Stuart Broad (6/31 vs West Indies, Manchester)

At the start of English season, Stuart Broad got a big jolt. He was dropped from the Test team for the first match, against West Indies. This didn't go down well with the man who now has more than 500 Test wickets.

But this axing proved to be just the spur he needed. When he came back into the team, he looked determined to make a point and bowled beautifully. His best performance of the season came in the final Test against Windies at Manchester where he destroyed  the opposition line-up. 

With broad, its not the exaggerated swing that Anderson gets which does the trick. It is getting the ball to just do enough and pitching it on a fuller length. He did that brilliantly in that spell and even set batsmen couldn't deal with the skill of Broad. 

2. Pat Cummins (4/21 vs India, Adelaide)

Very rarely does a bowler bowl so well but still gets completely overshadowed. Though Josh Hazlewood may have got the Man of the Match award and most of the accolades for his performance in this innings, the bowling of Cummins was special in itself. 

An incredibly accurate bowler, Cummins hardly bowled a bad ball in his entire spell of 10.2 overs and pitched his deliveries in the most difficult area for the batsmen. He also got just enough movement to get the edge of the unfortunate Indian batters, most of whom got out without having played a bad shot. 

It was a beautiful in-dipper by Cummins that started the mayhem. After going through the defences of Prithvi Shaw, Cummins then inflicted even bigger blows on the Indian team by dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara - the rock of the line-up - and Virat Kohli, the master. 

Even though it was Hazlewood who walked away with the most wickets, it was Cummins' accuracy and control that stifled Indian and left them wobbling. 

1. Josh Hazlewood (5/8 vs India, Adelaide)

The very first ball that Josh Hazlewood bowled in this spell was a near-unplayable delivery that rose sharply, deviated just a little bit and took the edge of the bat, to be taken by the keeper. The next 29 balls he bowled were hardly any easier for the batsmen. 

In just five overs, Hazlewood ran through the famed Indian batting line-up and, along with Cummins, made them suffer the humiliation of getting bowled out for 36. In a spell that would have made Glenn McGrath proud, the Aussie seamer didn't bowl a single bad delivery and kept testing the technique of batsmen on that most difficult area just outside the off-stump. 

The slight extra bounce he got further added to his menace. There was no respite for the batsmen as they kept fumbling while trying to deal with the relentless assault of Hazlewood. The combination of bounce and a bit of movement proved too much to handle for the Indians. This was a bowling performance for the ages. 


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