Stars of 2010s?

With the end of year, and for us simpletons the decade as well, I felt a blog might be in order. Rather than looking back at the last ten dreadful years I will look forward with the tiniest glimmer of hope at what the future holds. I could tell you the downright obvious - pitches will remain flat, bowlers deflated, all-rounders injured, the BCCI belligerent, the ECB incompetent and the ICC worse. Instead I decided to look for the cricketers that will shape the next ten to fifteen years, promising youngsters with the potential to decide between being stars of all time or just taking the big pay cheque from IPL. The rules of the following selections were to choose three cricketers from every Test nation who were born in the 1990s, therefore all still teenagers, and have yet to win full honours (no Mohammad Aamer, Umar Akmal, Rubel Hossain, Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell). My predictions are generally useless but with 30 bullets to fire I'm fairly certain there must be a future star in my choices.

Australia
Mitchell Marsh (20th October 1991) – Another son of a former Test player, a batsman he was the leading run-scorer in the under-19 'Test' series with India last year, and this season has played a number of impressive one-day knocks.

Josh Hazlewood (8th January 1991) – A tall fast bowler presently opening the bowling for New South Wales alongside Mitchell Starc, another promising youngster. Josh's superior youth record, 8 wickets at 32, and a year in hand give him the nod.

Alister McDermott (7th June 1991) – A fast bowling son of Craig, Alister has already represented Queensland in all forms, with success in one-day cricket where he has taken nine wickets at 21.55 with a economy rate little over four.

Bangladesh
Abul Hasan (5th August 1992) – A fast bowler with a very impressive youth record of 38 wickets at 18.15, that includes 14 at 8.92 against Zimbabwe under-19s in their series last month. Domestically he took seven one-day wickets in as many matches last year.

Nasir Hossain (30th November 1991) – An off-spinning all-rounder who has a good record in all formats. He made his domestic debut in 2008/09 averaging 28 with bat and ball in four-day cricket while 10 one-day matches in 18 days brought him 306 runs at 38 and 15 wickets at 16.

Anamul Haque (16th December 1992) – A wicketkeeper-batsman who made his first-class debut last year aged just 15. No great success domestically yet but at under-19 level he averages 52 in 'Tests' and 35 in 'ODIs', a fair few stumpings suggest his keeping isn't too shabby either.

England
James Taylor (6th January 1990) – A right hand batsman who announced himself this year by scoring 1,207 runs at 57 for Leicestershire in the County Championship. He broke county records for youngest one-day centurion, youngest first-class double centurion and youngest to pass the thousand run landmark in a season. He was named young cricketer of the year by both the Cricket Writers' Club and PCA.

Liam Dawson (1st March 1990) – A spinning all-rounder, his performances for Hampshire have already brought an England A call-up. In 2008 he took 11 one-day wickets at 15.81 and although his bowling in 2009 fell short of that, his batting improved with six fifties in all competitions.

James Harris (16th May 1990) – A fast bowler who has three seasons and 28 first-class matches worth of experience while still a teenager. He broke onto the scene in 2007 when he took 12 wickets in just his second match, aged 17 years and 3 days he was the youngest bowler to take ten wickets in a County Championship match. A regular for Glamorgan last season, he took 43 wickets at 34.

India
Abhinav Mukund (6th January 1990) – A left-hand opening batsman, he already has eight first-class centuries to his name, with one being a triple century. In October he represented the Rest of India in the Irani Cup and scored the only century of the match. Averages of 55 in FC and 48 in one-day cricket speak for themselves.

Bhuvneshwar Singh (5th February 1990) – A right-hand medium pacer on flat Indian decks should be meat and drink but this lad has an impressive record of 60 wickets at 27. In last season's Ranji Trophy final he took a five-for which included the wicket of Sachin for a duck. In the same match he scored 80 showing he's also fairly handy with the willow.

Harmeet Singh (7th September 1992) – A slow left arm spinner, he took seven wickets on his first-class debut for Mumbai. In this season's Vinoo Mankad Trophy (the one-day tournament for under-19s) he claimed 16 wickets at 8.18 suggesting it was no fluke.

New Zealand
Kane Williamson (8th August 1990) – A right-hand batsman who has long been considered the next big thing. He made his first-class debut two years ago and last season saw him score 800 runs at 50 in four-day cricket and 320 at 45 in the one-day stuff. Wickets with his off-spin and a solid youth record behind him, an international career beckons.

Corey Anderson (13th December 1990) – A left hand middle order batsman whose left-arm medium pace bowler has proved successful this season, adding another arrow to his bow. A good youth record in which he averaged 30 in both formats.

Doug Bracewell (28th September 1990) – A medium pace bowler with a first-class average of 62 is as good as it gets for young Kiwi paceman. To be fair he also offers some decent lower order batting with a first-class fifty behind him. Doug narrowly pips Harry Boam on the basis of marginally better records at youth level and in one-day cricket.

Pakistan
Mohammad Rameez (19th February 1990) – A fast bowler who took 70 first-class wickets in this season's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a tally only bettered by one bowler. Eight five-fors in ten matches is impressive as was his record last season when he claimed 41 wickets at 17.

Azeem Ghumman (24th January 1991) – A right hand batsman who has an impressive first-class record, in 17 first-class matches he averages 49 with five centuries. At youth level he top scored in the recent Zimbabwe series and is captain of the side for next year's World Cup.

Babar Azam (15th October 1994) – A 15 year old who is already playing for Pakistan under-19s and outperforming them, he ended the recent tri-nation youth tournament as leading scorer thanks to 127 against Sri Lanka. He scored another century in one of the warm-up matches and has also racked up runs for Lahore youth teams and Pakistan at under-15s.

South Africa
Jonathan Vandiar (25th April 1990) – A left-hand batsman who since his move to the Lions last year has scored two centuries and averages 44.50. In three youth Tests he scored centuries against both Bangladesh and India. He also captained South Africa under-19s to a 3-2 one-day victory over England in January.

Dale Deeb (8th September 1990) – A slow left spinner who's been successful in provincial cricket with Gauteng, averaging 28 in first-class and in one-day stuff 17 with an economy rate of under four. In five matches for South Africa under-19s he averaged less than 30.

Mangaliso Mosehle (24th April 1990) – A wicket-keeper and attacking batsman who has stepped up to franchise cricket this year. He made his professional debut for Northerns last October and despite not showing much batting form he earned a contract with the Titans, this season he's scored two fifties and a 49 all strewn with boundaries. In youth one-dayers he averaged 52 with a strike rate of 96.

Sri Lanka
Dulanjana Kalhara (20th May 1990) – A leg-break bowler who has performed well for Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club in his maiden season. Making his senior debut in September he's taken 31 wickets at 20 including back-to-back five fors.

Angelo Perera (23rd February 1990) – A right hand batsman who has averaged 43 in first-class cricket with Nondescripts Cricket Club this season. His batting is yet to fire in one-day cricket but his left-arm spin has claimed ten cheap wickets including a five-for.

Udara Jayasundera (3rd January 1991) – A left hand batsman who on his one-day debut this season scored 148, he also has a first-class century to his name. His occasional legbreak bowling has also been successful with his averages under 20 in all three formats.

West Indies
Kraigg Brathwaite (1st December 1992) – A prodigious run-scorer in club cricket who's early performances for Barbados suggest he's achieved the step-up. Following the contract dispute he was selected in the West Indies squad for the Bangladesh series, he didn't play but a WICB contract indicates his international debut will be sooner rather than later.

Andre Creary (17th November 1990) – A middle-order batsman who is to captain the under-19s in next year's World Cup. Like Brathwaite he was selected in the Test squad for Bangladesh's tour but didn't play, although he did make his first-class debut for West Indies A against the tourists.

Jason Holder (5th November 1991) – A fast bowler who made his name earlier this year when he faced England in a warm-up match, only 17 he took the wickets of Shah and Cook before striking a fifty. It wasn't a one off; in 2008 he took 19 wickets at 13.88 in the West Indies under-19 tournament and since he has made a promising debut for Barbados.

Zimbabwe
Natsai Mushangwe (9th February 1991) – One of many promising leg break bowlers from the nation. His domestic record is impressive 24 first-class wickets at under 25 and 17 one-day wickets at 16.

Dylon Higgins (5th April 1991) – Another leg break bowler, he took 11 wickets on his first-class debut in October. In the same month he took seven wickets at 25 with an economy rate of 3.23 in six ODIs against Pakistan under-19s.

Jethro Maudzi (10th March 1991) – A right hand batsman whose only played four professional matches but a century on first-class debut is enough to place him as Zimbabwe's premier young batsman (as far as I can see anyhow).