The International Cricket Council announced five Teams of the Year for 2022 along with the awards for individual players last month. Some of the biggest stars across the world from 11 cricket-playing countries featured in the final list, which captured diverse XIs across formats that entertained the fans throughout 2022.
English and Australian players claimed most of the spots in all three teams, while Indian players made their mark in the limited-overs format.
Let’s take a look at the players named in ICC Teams of the Year lists in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
ICC Test Team of the Year
England and Australia dominated the longest-format of the game for much of last year, with the former revolutionising the game with their “Bazball” approach while the latter continued their winning streak to enter the World Test Championship finals.
Ben Stokes is named the captain of Test XI, mainly for his contribution to turning around England’s fortunes in the longest format after taking over as the team’s captain. He hit 870 runs during 2022 in Test cricket, which included two centuries at an average of 36.25.
Jonny Bairstow and James Anderson are the two other English players to find their names on the list. Bairstow enjoyed the best year of his career in 2022, scoring five centuries in the English summer – the most by a player in 2022. Anderson continues to shine for England even at the age of 40, picking up 36 wickets in 2022 at an average of 19.48 and a stellar economy rate of 2.42.
Usman Khawaja bagged the inaugural Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year award, claiming the opener spot in the ICC XI. He is joined by Kraigg Brathwaite of the West Indies, who single-handedly contributed to the Caribbean team’s performances during the year.
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne is joined by ICC Player of the Year Babar Azam in the middle, with Labuschagne scoring a mammoth 957 runs in 2022 at an average of 56.29.
Rishabh Pant is the only Indian player to make it to the Test XI, hitting 680 runs in just 12 innings at an average of 61.81. Rishabh Pant’s absence is likely to hurt India deeply in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with India struggling to find an able replacement for the star.
Australia’s captain Pat Cummins and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada make up the pace attack of Test XI alongside James Anderson.
Nathan Lyon is the only spinner to find his name on the list, bowling more than 500 overs and picking up 47 wickets to finish as the year’s leading wicket-taker.
Full Team: Usman Khawaja, Kraigg Brathwaite, Marnus Labuschagne, Babar Azam, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (Captain), Rishabh Pant (wk), Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Lyon, James Anderson.
ICC ODI Team of the Year
Pakistan’s Babar Azam captains an outstanding team across countries in the 50-over format, which features 11 players from seven different nations.
Pakistan’s skipper leads the team for the second year in a row, claiming the top spot in the ICC batsmen rankings in ODIs for most of the year. In nine matches, Babar Azam crossed the half-century mark eight times, finishing the year with 679 runs.
He is joined at the top of the order by Australia’s Travis Head, who reinvented himself as an opener in 2022 to score 550 runs at an average of 68.75. Shai Hope of West Indies and Shreyas Iyer from India are slotted in the middle order for playing anchor roles for their teams, with Shreyas Iyer in particular becoming a core part of Team India in the ODI format.
New Zealand’s Tom Latham is the team’s wicket-keeper batsman, starring with the gloves for the Kiwis with 16 dismissals in the format. Sikandar Raza’s one-man effort to revive Zimbabwe’s fortunes in the game was rewarded with a spot in the team. The all-rounder scored 645 runs at an average of 49.61 and picked up eight wickets in the year.
He is joined by Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh, who was India’s main nemesis during the Men in Blue’s tour of their neighbours last year.
Alzarri Joseph from West Indies, Mohammed Siraj from India, and Trent Boult from New Zealand make up the team’s pace attack, with all three seamers displaying consistency throughout the year despite playing fewer games.
Australia’s Adam Zampa is the only spinner in the team, taking 30 wickets in the format – most of them on Australian tracks which offer little assistance to spinners.
Full Team: Babar Azam (Captain), Travis Head, Shai Hope, Shreyas Iyer, Tom Latham (wk), Sikandar Raza, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Siraj, Trent Boult, Adam Zampa.
ICC T20I Team of the Year
England’s Jos Buttler is the T20 team of the year with the stars of ICC T20 World Cup 2022 taking up most of the slots in the team.
Jos Buttler was instrumental in converting England into a world-dominating force in white-ball cricket, leading the Three Lions to a World Cup victory. He accumulated 462 runs in 15 matches during the calendar year, with 225 runs coming during the World Cup tournament.
He is joined by Mohammad Rizwan with the Pakistani opener continuing his stellar form into 2022. Rizwan accumulated 996 runs during the year, smashing 10 half-centuries in the process.
India’s Virat Kohli announced his return to form in an emphatic manner in 2022. The former Indian captain was at his best during the ICC T20 World Cup, scoring one of the best innings by any batsman in the history of the game during India’s fixture against Pakistan. He would go on to score 296 runs in the tournament – becoming the tournament’s top-scorer despite India’s exit from the quarterfinals.
Suryakumar Yadav has been the other sensation for India during 2022 with the 32-year-old becoming the second batsman to score more than 1000 runs in T20 during a calendar year. His hard-hitting style of play has quickly made him a core part of Team India’s plans in limited-overs formats. Glenn Phillips from New Zealand claims the remaining batting spot in the team.
Hardik Pandya and Sikandar Raza are the team’s all-rounders, with the former embracing his role as Team India’s captain in the shortest format of the game. The bowling department is led by England’s Sam Curran, who was the main factor in England’s success at the World Cup.
He is joined by Haris Rauf from Pakistan and Josh Little from Ireland, with the latter ending the year as the second-highest wicket-taker. Wanindu Hasaranga is the only spinner in the team with the Sri Lankan weaving his magic to win his team the Asia Cup.
Full Team: Jos Buttler (Captain, wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Hardik Pandya, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Haris Rauf, Josh Little, Wanindu Hasaranga.
●●●
VISIT OUR BLG TO GET YOUR FIX FOR ALL OF THE MOST CURRENT CRICKET NEWS STORIES & FEATURES
