39. Launch of the Women’s Big Bash League
Women’s cricket continues to go from strength to strength. After announcing the concept last year, Cricket Australia finally launched the product for the summer of 2015/16. It is the first professional women’s T20 tournament in the world and features the best players from around the globe.
38. Chris Rogers sells Ashes tickets
Chris Rogers was left with red hair and a red face after being caught trying to sell Ashes tickets via his company Inside Edge Experience. The tickets were issued by his County side Middlesex and are meant to be used for family and friends. Rogers attempted to sell them for up to three thousand pounds each before the club discovered what was happening and stopped it.
37. British Airways troll Sachin Tendulkar
Being the biggest name in Indian cricket apparently means nothing to British Airways. When Sachin Tendulkar took to twitter to complain about his bags being list, BA replied via an open tweet that Tendulkar should share his full name, address and baggage reference.
36. Kraigg Braithwaite takes a 6’fer
Young West Indian opener Kraig Braithwaite is not a bowler. We know this, as he only has 9 First Class wickets to his name. However, this didn’t stop him taking 6/29 against Sri Lanka in Colombo. It helped restrict the Sri Lankan lead to 244. Kraig could only contribute 3 with the bat as the West Indies fell 72 runs short of victory.
35. Kyle Abbott breaks the record for worst T20I bowling figures
South African Kyle Abbott broke a World record in 2015, but probably not the one he wanted. Facing Chris Gayle and the West Indies, Abbott posted the figures of 1/68 from his 4 overs. The previous record of 64 runs was jointly held by James Anderson and Sanath Jayasuriya
34. Australia refuse to tour Bangladesh
After a disappointing Ashes campaign, Asustralia was looking forward to a two Test tour of Bangladesh to prepare it for the Aussie summer.
Unfortunately, in the week leading up to their departure, the Federal Government stepped in and warned the team against touring due to credible security threats. The tour was cancelled. Only 8 weeks later, the Socceroos played in Bangladesh in a FIFA World Cup qualifier without a hitch.
33. New Zealand quit after unsafe pitch
New Zealand travelled to Blacktown to play the Cricket Australia XI in a lead up match to the Test series. After the CA XI posted 1/503 dec, New Zealand double declared and refused to bat. Their reasoning was that the pitch was unsafe to bat on.
32. Srinivasan finally beaten
You may not have heard of his name before, but N Srinivasan was the Indian mogul who ran the ICC and Indian cricket like it was his own personal fiefdom. After an investigation into Indian cricket by the Supreme Court of India where Srinivasan was labelled “nauseating” and banned from Indian cricket elections due to conflicts of interest by the judges, his power base slowly eroded.
His removal from the world cricket scene was complete when the Indian cricket administration removed him from his post of ICC Chairman.
31. Kane Williamson
We kinda saw him for the first time during the World Cup when he hit a six to help New Zealand defeat Australia in Auckland. However, most of us didn’t really know how good he was.
Fast forward a few months and the 25 year old kid from Tauranga had won us over. A Test average in 2015 of over 90 with a Not Out double century against Sri Lanka, a ton at Lord’s and two centuries against Australia.
30. Michael Clarke retires
It was a tough year or so for Michael Clarke. He played injured last year in Adelaide to pay tribute to his mate Phil Hughes. He fought through injury to captain Australia to a World Cup win at home. He went to England and lost the Ashes, again playing under a massive injury cloud. Finally, he took shots from ex team mates about his leadership skills when he retired, using his Ashes Tour diary to settle some scores. He finished with a Test average of 49.10 and 28 hundreds. A legend? Time will tell.
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The Top 50 Cricketing Moments of the Year (1-10)Follow @denniscricket_
