England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka: best moments of 2016 on Sky Sports
Last Updated: 26/12/16 1:24pm
Despite heartbreak in the World Twenty20 Final, hopes for a cracking summer of cricket were high following England's winter victory over South Africa on their patch in the Basil D'Oliveira Trophy.
We weren't disappointed. Here are a few of our pundits' favourite moments from the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as the domestic game.
Check them out then let us know what yours is by tweeting @SkyCricket…
Nasser Hussain - marvellous Misbah
My moment of the summer belongs to the Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq. What a way to go about his first Test at Lord's, aged 42; he hit a hundred and won the Test!
If scoring a century wasn't magnificent enough, he then celebrated by doing some push-ups at the Home of Cricket - it came completely out of nowhere and was unprecedented at Lord's.
This could have been a difficult tour bearing in mind what happened the last time Pakistan toured England, but Misbah set the standard throughout the summer both in the way he played and the way he captained.
Wasim Akram - Yasir Lord's it
My favourite moment was Yasir Shah's 10 wickets at Lord's as Pakistan opened the Test series with a win. They went into the series as underdogs - the bookies making England firm favourites for victory.
It was Yasir's, and many of the players', first time at Lord's. It's a dream come true for any player, let alone one playing their first Test outside of the subcontinent like Yasir was; so to get 10 wickets was an incredible achievement.
What also impressed me during the series was Pakistan's performance off the field. They were true ambassadors of the game and of their country.
Bob Willis - Joe's just perfection
Joe Root's double hundred against Pakistan at Old Trafford was quite simply one of the best five England innings I've seen - up there with Graham Gooch's century against the West Indies at Headingley in 1991 and the like.
Number three has been the pivotal position throughout the history of cricket and this knock proved Root is ideally suited to it - he has the technique to handle the new ball but if he goes in at 220-1 he has the game to play positively and cement your side's advantage and press on.
By his own admission, Root - and a few of his team-mates - played kamikaze shots at Lord's but he got his act together and proved that he's an absolute superstar who can knuckle down and occupy the crease for long periods when required.
Mike Atherton - Pakistan top the lot
Looking at the summer as a whole, the four Test matches against Pakistan were the main highlight; therefore, I've picked the moment Azhar Ali belted Moeen Ali for six to win the Test at The Oval and tie the series.
That win ultimately took Pakistan to the top of the Test rankings. When you think about it, given where Pakistan were six years ago when Misbah-ul-Haq took over after the spot-fixing scandal of 2010, and given that they don't play at home - they're permanent exiles - to get to No1 in the world is a fantastic achievement.
Also, purely from an England perspective, Chris Woakes' coming of age this summer has been a joy to watch. He has really stamped his authority on international cricket this summer.
CHECK OUT CHRIS WOAKES' moment of the summer in his column here...
David Lloyd - Hales' record-breaking heroics
A chap on social media said before it all kicked off in the third ODI that "England are going to get 280" and I replied "I think they'll get 350" but as they motored along you could see it was going to spiral out of control for Pakistan.
Hales, on his home ground, made the most of some inviting boundaries and a pitch as flat as a pancake, on which a bowling side becomes absolutely powerless.
The number of fours and sixes was breath-taking on what was a real batters day. The next question, which crops up on social media all the time, is when will a team score 500? It will definitely, definitely happen, trust me, if there's a perfect storm of conditions, pitch and boundaries.
Sir Ian Botham - Plunkett pouches a beauty
There have been many magnificent moments this summer, not least - as Bumble mentioned - England's incredible record-breaking display at Trent Bridge. That was England at their brutal and destructive best and showed just how far their white-ball cricket has come.
I'm actually going to go a bit left-field with my selection, though, and pick Liam Plunkett's catch against Pakistan in the ODI at Lord's.
It was pretty spectacular, you've got to admit - not least because he's big unit, yet floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee to pull off a stunning catch!
Nick Knight - Tymal blows Gayle away
I'm going back right to the start of the summer and a Sussex versus Somerset game in the T20 Blast at Hove - it was freezing cold in The Pod; one of the first games we did out in the elements, but we were warmed up by some fiery fast bowling by Tymal Mills!
We'd heard a lot about Mills, and he bowled not just 90mph plus, but did it against the might of Chris Gayle, fresh from the IPL.
Gayle was beaten for pace by the first two balls he faced, before the third ball clattered into his stumps, with Gayle barely getting his bat down. It was a moment that has stuck with me all summer.
Benedict Bermange - a perfect piece of Pi
Pi Day is observed on 22 July since the fraction 22/7 (3.14) is a common approximation of the mathematical constant Pi (π), originally devised around 250 BC by the Greek Mathematician Archimedes. This year Pi Day coincided with the first day of the Old Trafford Test between England and Pakistan.
Someone had obviously told night-watchman Chris Woakes as he carefully played out the last five balls of the day from Yasir Shah to ensure that England ended four wickets down with their score on 314. An added bonus to all mathematically-minded viewers was that Joe Root ended on 141, which is as close as you are likely to get to the Square Root of 2 (1.41).
