Cricket Headlines 2016: Mohammad Amir, James Taylor, Faf du Plessis and Durham
Friday 30 December 2016 10:52, UK
A look back at some of the biggest stories you've made popular from our cricket coverage over the last 12 months...
'The day I thought I'd die'
"Safe to say this has been the toughest week of my life! My world is upside down. But I'm here to stay and I'm battling on! #lifestooshort" So wrote James Taylor on Twitter after his seven-Test career was cut short by arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (a serious heart condition to you and me), the cricket family responding with shock and sorrow to the news.
The condition, similar to that which caused Bolton's Fabrice Muamba heart to stop for 78 minutes, gave Taylor no choice but to retire - the 26-year-old admitting that at one point he thought he was going to die, and revealing the part his high level of fitness played in saving him.
Befitting his bubbly character, Taylor was quick to acknowledge that as difficult asit was to accept that he'd never play sport again, "for most people this condition is only found in the post-mortem. I feel lucky to be here."
Since then Taylor hasn't been short of opportunities, most noticeably on the media circuit, becoming a regular on Sky Sports' England coverage where his recent proximity to the national team's players has provided rare insights. A gem of a bloke in every sense.
'I say sorry again'
By his own admission, Mohammad Amir knew he was cheating the game when he bowled two no-balls against England at Lord's in 2010. So after serving a five-year spot-fixing ban, did he deserve a second chance?
The question polarised opinion ahead of Pakistan's summer tour, with calls from those insisting the seamer deserved a life ban from the game tempered by the arguments of those suggesting Amir had served his time and that mitigating factors should be taken into account.
The fixture list worked initially in Amir's favour - heckling not a speciality of the Lord's crowd - and the left-armer had the final say by sealing Pakistan's victory at the scene of his spot-fixing crime when he bowled Jake Ball.
Cries of 'no-ball' were more prevalent at Old Trafford, Edgbaston and the Oval and while Amir's series return of 12 wickets at 42 apiece didn't silence the critics, for many the spirit and the manner in which the matches were played went a long way to burying the ghosts of 2010.
The sight of Misbah-ul-Haq and Alastair Cook leaving the podium together at the end of the drawn Test series demonstrated a bonhomie barely believable at the start of the tour.
Durham down but not out
Debt is a familiar foe in county cricket and bit Durham hard in October. The club's relegation from Division One of the Championship for accepting a bailout from the England and Wales Cricket Board rather diverted attention from Middlesex's dramatic title-winning triumph and highlighted the on-going troubles clubs have of balancing the books.
Knight of the realm - and old boy of the newest county on the Championship circuit - Sir Ian Botham answered the county's clarion call for help, Beefy agreeing to take on the duties of Chairman from 2017 while Early Day Motion 574, led by North Durham MP Kevan Jones, condemned "the punitive action of the ECB against DCCC".
Sky Sports' Mike Atherton said that Championship relegation and a points deduction in all three competitions next year did seem a steep price to pay for accepting £3.8m from the top brass but stressed that "the ECB don't want to be seen as a lender of last resort".
Durham's pain did heal the wounds of Hampshire, who were subsequently offered a reprieve after finishing second-bottom in the top-flight but that only stirred Kent, who just missed out on promotion to Division Two, to investigate their legal options and the possibility of going up at Hampshire's expense.
The Shining
Sweets have not left such a bad taste in the mouth since the jelly-bean affair on India's tour of England in 2007. Faf du Plessis insisted he was not a cheat and said the ICC had opened a "can of worms" after he was found guilty of ball-tampering - the South Africa skipper losing his match fee having being seen on camera to suck a mint and rub saliva into the ball during his team's second Test win over Australia in Hobart.
Du Plessis found support from players present and past all around the world, not least from Australian skipper Steve Smith, who said: "We, along with every other team around the world, shine the ball the same way." But that didn't prevent farcical scenes at Adelaide Airport, as the story escalated, where a Channel 9 reporter was involved in a physical confrontation with a team security guard as he sought to get comment from Du Plessis himself.
Critics of Du Plessis - who lost his subsequent appeal but was cleared to play against Sri Lanka in the Boxing Day Test - pointed to the player's behaviour in 2013 when cameras caught him scuffing the ball against his zip pocket (the umpires subsequently changing the ball after adding five runs to Pakistan's total in the second Test in Dubai) suggesting a trend that means he will be more scrutinised than ever in the coming years.
But then no one is safe from the camera and with England captain Alastair Cook admitting that players remain uncertain as to what exactly constitutes ball-tampering, expect this issue to run and run.
Enjoy a cracking 2017 with Sky Sports as we bring you continued live coverage of England's tour of India and the ICC Champions Trophy.
