After 32 Tests, 33,408 runs and 1,016 wickets, it’s finally time for the Guardian’s tenth annual Men’s Test XI of the year. This year’s selectors were Vic Marks, Ali Martin, Rob Smyth, Tanya Aldred, Taha Hashim, Geoff Lemon, Adam Collins, Emma John, Tim de Lisle, Daniel Gallan and Andy Bull. Depressingly, some teams (South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh) played so little this year that it was difficult to pick any of their players, which is a worrying sign of the way the game is going, but for now…
1) Usman Khawaja
1,168 runs with an average of 55
It would take a hard heart not to take pleasure in watching the final years of Khawaja’s career, after all his ups and downs along the way. He is better than ever since returning to Test cricket in 2022. This year he scored three monumental hundreds against South Africa in Sydney, India in Ahmedabad and England in Edgbaston. There were another six fifties in between, making him the leading run-scorer in the format this year, and the only unanimous selection in this XI.
2) Rohit Sharma
540 runs on 49
Now that he has been in charge for two years, it still feels like Rohit Sharma needs to make his mark on the captaincy. However, his batting made the same big impression as ever. He also struggled as eight of his eleven innings were against Australia. He made one brilliant century against them on a turning pitch in Nagpur, when no one else in the top six on either side passed fifty, and scored another ton on tour against the West Indies in July. He did it in style, hitting as many sixes single-handedly as Khawaja, Zak Crawley and David Warner managed together.
3) Kane Williamson
696 running at 58
Williamson stepped back from the captaincy at the start of this year, although he was already so self-effacing that it was a surprise to discover he still had room to retreat into. In the ranks he sometimes struggled to get in, but when he did he was as effective as ever. He won man-of-the-match for his 132 in a famous one-run win after New Zealand came up against England in Wellington, before making an unbeaten hundred and then another double back-to-back against Sri Lanka. and capped it off with another century against Bangladesh in Sylhet.
4) Joe Carrot
787 runs at 66, 8 wickets at an average of 18
People who meet Root for the first time are always surprised to find out that he is so tall. He is about six feet tall, a height that is completely at odds with the naughtiness of a man who thinks it’s a good idea to try to hit a reverse slant shot from the very first ball of his innings against Pat Cummins . Root made two fine centuries this year, against New Zealand in Wellington and against Australia in Edgbaston. And while he was slightly less effective than he used to be when he cornered all those hundreds in the dog days of his captaincy, he had never been more entertaining to watch.
5) Travis head
679 runs on 42
At the end of the year, Head was appointed Australia vice-captain, which felt like a clear sign of his growing importance to the team. His striking can be a little more skittish than some of the great Australian mid-range players who have come before him, but he is unstoppable when it sticks. And even though the bowlers had some success bowling short against him, he still picked up a lot of runs while they did so, especially when he scored his compelling run-a-ball 163 in the World Test Championship final.
6) Ravindra Jadeja
281 runs at 35, 33 wickets at 19
India demand a lot from Jadeja, picking him as high as No. 6 in the order and often playing him as their only spinner. But he is equal to everything. He tore Australia apart in the spring, when he took 22 wickets at 18 in four Tests, including his career-best figures of seven for 42 in Delhi. In the same match he also made a crucial four-hour 70. A few months later he played it the other way around in the final of the World Test Championship, when he rattled off a run-a-ball 48 to go along with his three for 58 in the second innings. His fielding was also excellent as always.
7) Lorcan Tucker
351 runs at 44, 7 dismissals
Tucker, the first Irishman ever to make the Guardian team of the year, played just four Tests but made almost as many runs in them as Alex Carey did in 12 for Australia. Tucker has played just 19 first-class matches and said in June that it felt like he was “learning Test cricket on the go”. But he is a fast learner. In Mirpur, he scored his maiden century after coming in when his team were 51 for 5. He followed that with an 80 in a heavy defeat to Sri Lanka in Galle, and 44 against England at Lord’s.
8) Ravichandran Ashwin
142 runs at 24, 40 wickets at 16
The world’s best Test bowler didn’t even make it into India’s XI for the World Test Championship final, a decision that may have cost his side the title. You didn’t even need hindsight to see it. Ashwin took 25 wickets of 18 each against Australia in the spring. He was more thrifty than any man, more sagacious than he, and more sagacious than any man who was more thrifty. He is one of the game’s greatest problem solvers and should be regarded as one of the best to ever play it, if only he managed to secure his place in the team.
9) Pat Cummins (c)
225 runs at 16, 32 wickets at 33
The lingering image of Cummins’ year is that he was batting at Edgbaston, where his unbeaten 44 stole the first Ashes Test from under England. The series, the summer, revolved around those innings, which typified Cummins’ captaincy. He led his team through very difficult weather. They were battered by India’s bowlers and England’s batsmen, and hurt by criticism from the press and public on everything from his views on the climate crisis to the spirit of cricket. And he brought them through as world Test champions and Ashes holders.
10) Mitchell Starc
147 runs at 15, 34 wickets at 29
After eight years, Starc finally signed for a new period in the Indian Premier League in December. He went to auction for £1.9 million, making him the most expensive player in the competition, and a reminder of how much he could have earned all those years if he had not preferred to concentrate on playing for Australia. He arrived in England with a point to prove, he had a mediocre record here and wasn’t even sure he would win a place in the team. He left it two months later as the leading wicket-taker in the Ashes series, with 23 off 27.
11) Stuart Breed
112 runs at 11, 38 wickets at 26
Mark Wood bowled faster, Chris Woakes took his wickets cheaper and Josh Hazlewood had a lower strike rate, but there was simply no way to leave Broad out of this XI. He had one the great seasons, from his one-man war against Australia in the press, his first delivery to Marnus Labuschagne, his swearing in the aftermath of Jonny Bairstow’s run-out at Lord’s, his last six, the bail switch, those last two wickets. And at the end of it all, he somehow ended up with more wickets than any other quick. Forget guys’ own endings, Broad’s were as good as it gets.
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