Strauss's England is a large hit in an unbelievable time for cricket

It has been an unbelievable time for cricket and England will begin 2012 on pinnacle of the world in the Test and Twenty20 formats.We asked our board of experts, past England captain, Sportsmail writer and Sky Sports critic Nasser Hussain, past England coach,Sportsmail columnist and Sky pundit David Lloyd and Wisden editor Lawrence Booth. Cricket Correspondent Paul Newman was in the chair...

Paul Newman: Gentlemen, there have been very little improved days than 2011 for the England team. What are your highlights?

David Lloyd: Let's go correct reverse to the begin and the fifth take a look at in Sydney. Jimmy Anderson and Tim Bresnan's magnificent bowling and the power of England with lots of form Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Matt earlier. They fully overwhelmed Australia.

Nasser Hussain: We've knotted up at Sydney with the Ashes extended left down the times and to learn the SCG twisted into little Britain on the last day, with hardly an Australian follower within the place, was extraordinarily pleasing for all people. it absolutely was huge to find out England shut them off in such approach.

Lawrence Booth: It has been a fantastic day for England at check level throughout. India here within the summer because the world's No one and England simply blew them away with a restricted name of cricket that Andy Flower has them enjoying. The fineness of  England completes up for the disappointment India’s performances.

Newman: Let's converse about the one spot on England's scenery. Why have they not been clever to break in excess of cricket? It's secrecy.

Hussain: A set of England's victory has return from grinding down the resistance and staying within the game. They never enable up and in more than 5 days have proved themselves the highest about. However it's all about vogue in fifty over’s and perhaps they solely need to keep in mind to envision ball, hit ball. Check up on Virender Sehwag drumming a twice hundred against West Indies. He did not seem as if he'd make two hundred runs if he had batted all year in England, however place him on a level taking part in field in India in a very 50-over game and watch him go. Suresh Raina is that the same.

Newman: On that memo let's finish by hopeful that the very busy cricketing year of 2012 is a very happy one!

F1 gone cricket at the back in fame stakes

The year 2011 saw extra and extra Indian sports education rising out of the shade of cricket. Method one and pro boxing were the first offs the chunk to bend a lot of eyeballs and the multimillion-dollar planet sequence Hockey looks high-quality for snatching its split.

It is cricket that showed them the technique to imprison the marketplace split by productively piloting the Indian Premier League (IPL) and worldwide games administrators are looking at India as a chief target to marketplace their game. A rationally optimistic wealth and a billion people are heartening enough for them to imagine that they can advertise their activity here.

Formula One grabbed the primary chance and its opening Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit (BIC) at superior Noida was a large strike, erasing the tart reminiscences of a tainted Commonwealth Games a year ago.

Fascinatingly, earlier that week there were a few takers for India's ODI cricket series. The contest was one of the most watched fair actions in the world.Accolades poured in for contest promoters Jaypee Sports International which pulled off the show without a main disagreement over that weekend.

Boxing, too, complete a wet in a big way. For long, the world body was preparation an IPL-style event in the circle and it led to the birth of the World Series Boxing (WSB). India is represented in the global city-based association by Mumbai Fighters, owned by TransStadia, a games and activity corporation.

The start of the World Series Hockey (WSH) ran into disagreement as it clashed with the training of the state team for the Olympic requirement contest. After weeks of haggling, it is put off to February. The promised cost to group of actors was so beautiful that even those who have retired are rear on the grass.

Cricket must admiration fans: Dravid

Cricket risks killing the goose that lays the fair-haired egg if it disrespect fans by forecast too several worthless worldwide matches, ex India Captain Rahul Dravid has said.

Dravid, the primary Indian to offer the annual Sir Donald Bradman Oration, said the game required to search out a balance between the three formats of the sport and should think about taking part in check matches, the “gold standard” of the sport, at night.“It should level down this mad merry-go-round that groups and players realize themselves in: keeping off for two-test tours and seven-match ODI series with a couple of Twenty20s thrown in,” the 38-year-old said in his speech late on Wednesday.

“Test cricket deserves to be protected; it is what the world best recognizes they're going to be judged by. Where I come back from, nation versus nation is what got people fascinated by cricket within the   first place.

“When I hear the news that a rustic is enjoying without a number of its best players, I perpetually surprise, what do their fans think?“We should actively fight to induce as several (fans) as we can, to form a test match setting that the players and the fans feed off. Something however the sight of tests played on empty grounds.

Fans merit respect

Dravid said that might have an effect on the worth of TV rights.“If that happens, it is laborious to find out rights around cricket being as asked for as they need perpetually been within the last fifteen years. “Everything that has given cricket its power and influence within the world of sports has started from that fan within the stadium,” he added.

“They deserve our respect and allow us to not take them without any consideration. Disrespecting fans is disrespecting the sport.”Dravid said the largest dangers facing the game were spot-fixing and players being tempted to get involved with the betting business. Players ought to be ready to offer up a “little bit of freedom of movement and privacy” to battle those scourges and endure lie detector tests if necessary, he said.

Excerpts from Dravid’s words at the Bradman address

Thank you for inviting me to deliver the Bradman Oration; the respect and therefore the regard that came with the invite to talk tonight, is deeply appreciated.

I realize a really distinguished list of gentlemen have preceded me within the 10 years that the Bradman Oration has been held.  I do know that this Oration is held each year to understand the life and career of Sir Don Bradman, an excellent Australian and an excellent cricketer. I perceive that I am alleged to talk about cricket and problems within the game — and I will.

The individuals of each our countries are usually told that cricket is that the one issue that brings Indians and Australians along. That cricket is our single common denominator.

India’s first test series as a free country was played against Australia in November 1947, 3 months once our independence. it is however, incongruous, that I, an Indian, happen to be the primary cricketer from outside Australia, invited to deliver the Bradman Oration. I don’t say that solely as a result of Sir Don once scored 100 before lunch at Lord’s and my a hundred at Lord’s this year took virtually a whole day.

What we have to do is use the simplest way to confirm that test matches work into twenty-first century life, through timing, environments and the held in. there's a proposal doing the rounds on scrapping the 50-over game fully. I am undecided I trust that —actually recognize that the 50-over game helped us innovate strokes in our batting that we tend to were then able to take into test matches. The future lie in taking part in one-day internationals targeted around ICC events, like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups.