Sreesanth rises to the challenge

We've been having a bit of a look back over the cricketing year and one of the abiding themes is the dominance of bat over ball. With Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne about to retire, things are becoming even more one-sided. So who's going to step forward and redress the balance?

One possible candidate, on current form, is Sreesanth of India. He only made his Test debut this year, against England, but he looks promising.

So far he's racked up 35 wickets at 24.40, but his recent form in India's tour of South Africa is what's drawn our attention of late. He played a major part in India winning the first Test - not something they manage all that often away from home. Sreesanth took 5-40 as South Africa were bowled out for 84 in their first innings. Now that's contributing to a victory. None of this '20 runs batting at eight' contributing.

In India's second Test defeat, he still performed, taking 4-109 and then 4-80. He's quick, which is no bad thing; keen, which is equally important; and he's prone to dancing and bat-twirling, which could go either way really - at least he's not Jaques Kallis.

It's early days, but sometimes you can get a decent idea from little information. Our first ever reference said something like: "He could probably achieve something if he ever finds himself doing something he's remotely interested in".