Australia skipper Pat Cummins has been selected as captain of the ICC’s Men’s Test Team of the Year, but there was no room for any of his compatriots in the all-star line-up of 2024’s best international XI.
As the sport’s governing body began unveiling its awards for last year’s top performers on Friday, the team chosen by international media on the ICC’s Voting Academy featured four Englishmen and three Indians but only fast bowler Cummins from among the world Test champions’ line-up.
Cummins, who won the Sir Garfield Sobers award as the ICC’s Men”s Cricketer of the Year in 2023, oversaw six wins, two losses and a draw as Test captain in the last calendar year while leading his side to another World Test Championship final.
It’s the second straight year the 31-year-old has been selected as the all-star team captain following Australia’s series wins over Pakistan, New Zealand and India, during which he picked up 37 wickets at 24.02 apiece.
Pat Cummins celebrates with teammates the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Australia won seven and lost just two of nine Tests for the year, including a 2-0 whitewash of New Zealand on foreign soil, as well as defeating India in the summer’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
Among the snubs were Josh Hazlewood (35 wickets at 13.6) and Nathan Lyon (33 wickets at 22.69), while wicketkeeper Alex Carey (440 runs at 33.84 and 49 dismissals) was also unlucky to miss out.
Fellow WTC finalist South Africa, who lost just two of ten Tests for 2024, were totally snubbed for the ICC line-up, with not a single Protea named in the team, despite three bowlers – quicks Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen and spinner Keshav Maharaj – averaging under 20 in 2024 and captain Temba Bavuma averaging over 55 with the bat.
But the ICC found room for four Englishmen, despite a mixed year in which they won nine and lost eight of 17 Tests, including a 2-1 series loss in Pakistan and a 4-1 defeat in India.
Batters Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Harry Brook were all named in the XI, as well as wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Earlier this week, Australia – despite being the world’s No.1-ranked Test team and having secured qualification for the World Test Championship final – did not get a single player into the 2024 World XI selected by Wisden from a panel of 41 cricket writers.
In the Men’s One-Day International team of the Year, not a single player from among Australia’s World Cup champions was able to make the cut, with the XI made up almost entirely of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan internationals.
The Women’s One-Day International team of the year features only allrounders Ash Gardner and Annabel Sutherland from the dominant Australia side that won 10 of their 11 completed ODIs in 2024.
Gardner topped the women’s ODI allrounder rankings after 269 runs and 20 wickets during the year, while Sutherland ended the year with player-of-the-series awards against India and New Zealand in December.
Men’s Test Team of the Year: Yashasvi Jaiswal (India), Ben Duckett (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Joe Root (England), Harry Brook (England), Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka), Jamie Smith (wkt, England), Ravindra Jadeja (India), Pat Cummins (capt, Australia), Matt Henry (New Zealand), Jasprit Bumrah (India).
ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year: Saim Ayub (Pakistan), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan), Pathum Nissanka (Sri Lanka), Kusal Mendis (wkt, Sri Lanka), Charith Asalanka (capt, Sri Lanka), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Azmatullah Omarzai (Afghanistan), Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan), Haris Rauf (Pakistan), AM Ghazanfar (Afghanistan).
ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year: Smriti Mandhana (India), Laura Wolvaardt (capt, South Africa), Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Ash Gardner (Australia) Annabel Sutherland (Australia), Amy Jones (wkt, England), Deepti Sharma (India), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Kate Cross (England).
with AAP
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