Graham Onions is Englands Man of the Series
Test Matches and Test Series have produced great interest over the years as very often Test Matches and Series have been won by collective brilliance of players or by strong individual batting or bowling in the series. However if England win the series or even manage to tie the series, then the credit should go to one player who has not done anything with the bat or with the ball but has had the biggest say in the series.
Graham Onions picked in the English team as a bowler, hardly did anything to justify his place in the team. Graham Onions picked up just 8 wickets in 3 Tests averaging 45.75 per wicket at a strike rate of 86.2 deliveries per wicket. Onions economy rate of 3.18 runs per over meant that he was unable to contain runs. As a batsman Onions scored a mere 11 runs in 5 innings while facing 45 deliveries and yet it was his batting which made the entire difference in the series. In the First Test against South Africa at Centurion on 20th December 2009, Graham Onions came to the crease with South Africa needing a wicket with 19 deliveries remaining in the Test Match to go 1-0 ahead in the series and in the Third Test at Cape Town on 7th January 2010, South Africans needed one wicket of 17 deliveries to square the series. In the First Test, Onions faced 12 deliveries to score a single to deny South Africa from taking a lead in the 4 match series and in the Third Test, Onions faced 11 deliveries without scoring a run to stop South Africa from squaring the series at 1-1. Onions contribution in both the Tests were crucial because had South Africa taken the lead in the First Test, they would have got the physiological edge to dominate England in the series and had South Africans levelled the series in the third test, then they could have gone to the decider keeping their options open either to go for a draw and tie the series and force a win. What Onions contribution however small may be with the bat has done is to give England the option of playing cricket as per the situation in the final Test. England can afford to take the risk of going for a win because even if they lose, they would not lose the series and if they want to win the series without taking risks, they can go for the safer option of batting South Africans out of the game or resort to negative line bowling.
Cricket is one game where smaller contributions matter a lot but are forgotten very soon and so is the contribution of Graham Onions who converted a probable 1-2 deficit in the series to a 1-0 lead. Irrespective of the result in the Fourth Test, Graham Onions has done enough to be considered Man of the Series.
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