Cricket Betting: Five key moments of 2009

As the year draws to a close, its time to take stock of what has occurred in the last twelve months. Andrew Hughes brings us the five key moments that defined 2009.
 
The Lahore Atrocity
Pakistan's status as an international cricket venue was already hanging by the slenderest of threads, but there remained hope that somehow cricket could carry on despite the turmoil that existed within the country. That hope was shattered on the morning of Tuesday March 3rd when gunmen attacked coaches carrying Sri Lankan players and officials to the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore ground. Five policemen were killed and some players were injured. Pakistan was stripped of the right to co-host the 2011 World Cup but perhaps more significantly, the belief that cricketers would never be targeted in a cricket-loving part of the world was dispelled forever.
England winning the Women's World Twenty20
Whilst England's men were struggling to rebuild under a new captain, England's women spent most of 2009 underlining their utter dominance. Claiming their third World Cup in Australia was another tremendous achievement, as was winning the Ashes during the summer. But it was their victory in the inaugural World Twenty20 that had most significance. The ICC had scheduled the women's tournament to run alongside the men's and when Claire Taylor hit the winning boundary in the final against New Zealand, a significant television audience were watching as well as a full house at Lord's. In a year when Charlotte Edwards received an MBE and Claire Taylor became the first women to feature as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year, the World Twenty20 victory was a huge boost for women's cricket in England.
The Dilscoop
Tillakaratne Dilshan was probably the batsman of the year, an unfulfilled talent in the middle order who had been moved to open and become one of the most destructive batsmen in the game as a result. During the IPL in a game against the Deccan Chargers, he unleashed a shot that no-one had seen before. Going down on one knee, he was able to lift a ball from Ryan Harris, with rare skill and timing over his shoulder towards the boundary. Pundits struggled to put a name to it but when he produced the shot again, during the World Twenty20, they finally settled on the Dilscoop. It was yet more good publicity for the shortest form of the game, generated considerable public interest and represented a new challenge to bowlers.
Tendulkar's Century
Sachin Tendulkar has gathered more records than any other batsman has over the course of his long and successful career. On November 5th in Hyderabad, he notched up another one and at the same time confirmed that his appetite for runs, not to mention his sublime talent remains undimmed. Chasing an unlikely 350 to win the fifth one-day international, Tendulkar was also chasing his 17,000th one-day international run. It came in the fifth over. On the last ball, he flicked a good length delivery through square leg and scampered three. The crowd, complete with banners and flags, who had looked far more tense than Sachin, erupted with joy as Virender Sehwag shook his hands and the scoreboard flashed up his record. The Little Master simply called for a new bat and set about crafting a breathtaking innings of 175 that all but brought his team victory, but as has happened so often in the past, his teammates proved altogether more mortal than Sachin and India lost by just 3 runs.
New South Wales winning the Champions League
The Champions League had had a troubled beginning. Emerging from the Indian Premier League, it was an attempt by the IPL head Lalit Modi to exploit the idea of an international club competition. The concept survived an attempt by the ECB to set up a rival and a postponement after last year's appalling Mumbai attacks and finally got underway in October. The tournament proved a success ratings-wise, despite the early exit of the IPL franchise teams, with the emergence of a talented Trinidad & Tobago team capturing the Indian public's imagination. The tournament was doubly significant in underlining the fundamental strength of Australian cricket. Both Australian teams reached the semi-finals and New South Wales ran out impressive victors against Trinidad & Tobago in the final.