The ICC have selected their Test match team of 2024, with England players dominating the XI.
Four England names were selected - the most from any side - with Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith all finding places. Three players from India make the cut, two from New Zealand and one each from Australia and Sri Lanka. There are no South Africa players in the XI, despite their strong finish to the year.
Root and Jasprit Bumrah - the leading run-scorer and the highest wicket-taker in 2024 - headline the team. Root scored 1,556 runs across 17 matches at an average of 55.57 and climbed to fifth in the list of players with the most runs in the history of Test cricket. Meanwhile, Bumrah claimed 71 wickets in 26 matches at an average of 14.93 and had a historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign on Australian soil.
Australia’s captain Pat Cummins, who picked up 37 wickets in 18 matches last year, has been chosen to lead the side.
Four England players included
The Test Team of the Year picked by ICC also includes young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harry Brook. India opener Jaiswal scored the second-most runs in Tests behind Root and accumulated 1478 runs at an average of 52.79. Meanwhile, Brook also had a spectacular year and scored 1100 runs in 20 matches at 55.
Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis was the breakthrough talent of last year and the 26-year-old scored 1049 runs at an unbelievable average of 74.93. His collection of five centuries in Tests in 2024 was only bettered by Root who scored six tons. Kane Williamson of New Zealand, with four centuries, also made it to the side.
England’s Jamie Smith has been included as the wicket-keeper of the side after he scored 637 runs at 42.47 and at a strike rate of 72.30. Ben Duckett, opening alongside Jaiswal, was also the third-highest run-scorer last year with 1149 runs. His strike rate of 87.05 was also the highest among the top 15 run-scorers in Tests.
Besides Cummins and Bumrah, Matt Henry of New Zealand rounds off the pace-bowling unit. Henry claimed 48 wickets in 18 matches last year. India’s Ravindra Jadeja, with 527 runs and 48 wickets in 2024, rounds off the ICC Test Team of the Year.
ICC Test Team of the Year 2024
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Kamindu Mendis, Jamie Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Pat Cummins (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Matt Henry.
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