ICC Best Test Team 2023: The International Cricket Council (ICC) every year recognises 11 players who have shown extreme resistance and stability in their batting or bowling innings. The test side does not include players only due to their excellence but also due to their temperament.
ICC’s Test Team of the Year includes these 11 players:
- Usman Khawaja
- Kraigg Brathwaite
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Babar Azam
- Jonny Bairstow
- Ben Stokes ( C )
- Rishabh Pant (WK)
- Pat Cummins
- Kagiso Rabada
- Nathan Lyon
- James Anderson
1. Usman Khawaja – Australia
Usman Khawaja’s return to Australia’s Test XI could have barely gotten off to a better start as he hit centuries in both innings against England in the 2022 Ashes.
The snappy left-hander scored 496 runs and averaged a mind-boggling 165.33 in the series win in Pakistan, hitting two centuries, and playing a huge part in Australia’s hard-earned victory. He ended the year with 1080 runs and roared in his comeback test.
2. Kraigg Brathwaite – West Indies
Braithwaite is setting an example for world cricket as he has been a standout performer in tests with 687 runs in 14 innings this year, averaging 62.45. After his stunning resilience in test cricket, the Windies captain is a sure fit in the Men’s Test side of 2022.
3. Marnus Labuschagne – Australia
Labuschagne has been a standout performer in the longest format of the game since his debut in the Australian test squad. Labuschagne is the world’s no.1 ranked batter, scoring 957 total runs across the year at an average of 56.29. Most of his runs came from the Australian summer against the West Indies. This is his 2nd continuing featuring in the Test team of the year.
4. Babar Azam – Pakistan
Babar Azam is one of those players to feature in the ICC’s second list after the ODI list of players. Pakistan’s Test captain was the most consistent performer with the bat throughout 2022, scoring four centuries. In nine matches, he hit an extraordinary 1184 runs at an average of 69.94. Azam again managed a spot with his stunning performance in tests.
5. Jonny Bairstow – England
England’s Jonny Bairstow enjoyed the best year of his career, before being ruled out of the England team due to a broken leg fracture. Bairstow managed to hit five centuries in the calendar year 2022, the most ever scored by a batter in a single year. He did this all without even playing for the entire season.
6. Ben Stokes – England
Stokes’ captaincy has transformed England since he took over the team at the start of the English summer. England’s extraordinary turnaround in 2022 may have seen Bairstow star with the bat, but it was Ben Stokes who showed the change and introduced the attacking mindset. He has been effective with both bat and ball too.
Stokes hit two centuries and 870 runs during the year, at an average of 36.25 down at number six. And he took 26 wickets in the year, using himself in a variety of different roles.
7. Rishabh Pant – India
India’s keeper-batter relished another fancy treat with the bat, hitting 680 runs from 12 innings at an average of 61.81 and a strike rate of 90.90, with two centuries and four fifties in the year. Pant changed the general notion of Test cricket, as he added impetus to his team’s innings throughout the year, smashing 21 sixes in Tests alone in 2022.
8. Pat Cummins – Australia
Australia’s Test captain led his side to the top of the World Test Championship standings at the end of 2022 after their disappointing exit from the race for the WTC final of 2021.
Cummins’ leadership was unquestionably brilliant throughout the year, and with that, the Aussie had one of his best annual returns, taking 36 wickets across 10 matches, breaching the 200 wickets milestone in Test cricket.
9. Kagiso Rabada – South Africa
South Africa’s lead pacer enjoyed a startling year with the ball across a range of conditions, his returns were consistent across all the series in which he played with different oppositions in different playing conditions. In total, Rabada took 47 wickets from nine matches across 2022, securing those scalps at an average of just 22.25.
10. Nathan Lyon – Australia
Lyon plays most of his cricket in Australian conditions, which are not favorable for spinners, yet he has been the most successful test spinner over the last 5-6 years. Lyon took 47 wickets in 11 Tests at an average of 29.06, doing a splendid job for his team both in home and away conditions.
11. James Anderson – England
No words for this man. We bow down our heads in respect for him as the English veteran keeps defying age to produce world-class performances, as he remains to be the most effective of bowlers in world cricket even at 40. In nine Tests, he took 36 wickets at an average of just 19.8 and an economy rate of 2.42.
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