Wisden Cricket Monthly’s T20 team of the year

While on the international stage, the World Cup was the focal point of the year’s white-ball action, 2019 was still a year packed full of mouthwatering T20 action. Domestically, Mumbai Indians became the first four-time winners of the Indian Premier League, Guyana Amazon Warriors won all 10 group stage games in the Caribbean Premier League while Essex won the T20 Blast for the first time after an epic Finals Day at Edgbaston.

Here is Wisden Cricket Monthly’s T20 team of the year:

1. David Warner (captain)

Runs 1,202

Average 71

Strike rate 142

This was the year that Warner emerged from Chris Gayle’s shadow to rank alongside him as the greatest T20 opener of all time. He is the prototypical anchor – unlike Gayle he takes almost no time to get going and is as rapid between the wickets as he is destructive, marrying an absurd scoring rate with freakish consistency. After three failures in his first four knocks of the year, Warner reached double figures in all of his remaining 20 innings, passing 50 on 14 occasions and twice going on to three figures.

Bumrah only played 18 T20s in 2019, for Mumbai Indians and India, but he still made a compelling case for selection. The Indian quick was integral to Mumbai’s third IPL crown, regularly delivering under pressure. No pace bowler to bowl more than 400 balls returned a lower economy rate than Bumrah’s 6.53, despite him bowling 47 per cent of his overs in the death-over phase – the most of any bowler.

11. Harry Gurney

Wickets 53

Economy rate 7.84

Strike rate 16

No pace bowler in the world took more wickets than Gurney, who was involved in title-winning triumphs for Melbourne Renegades and Barbados Tridents, although he did struggle in the IPL. This year Gurney overtook Dwayne Bravo and Andrew Tye as the world’s premier slower ball bowler. The 33-year-old bowled 71 per cent of his overs outside the powerplay, where his canny variations and left-arm angle proved immensely difficult to get away.