by After 32 Tests, 33,408 runs, 1,016 wickets, it’s finally time for the Guardian’s tenth annual men’s test XI. This year’s selectors included Vic Marks, Ali Martin, Rob Smyth, Tanya Aldred, Taha Hashim, Geoff Lemon, Adam Collins, Emma John, Tim de Lisle, Daniel Gallan and Andy Bull. Unfortunately, some teams (South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh) played so little this year that it was difficult to pick any of their players, which feels like a worrying sign of the way the game is going going, but for now…
1) Usman Khawaja
1,168 runs at an average of 55
You would need a hard heart not to enjoy watching the late years of Khawaja’s career after all the ups and downs. He has been better than ever since his return to Test Cricket in 2022. This year he made three brilliant hundreds against South Africa in Sydney, India in Ahmedabad and England at Edgbaston. There were six more fifties between them, making him the current leading scorer in the format this year, and the only unanimous choice in this XI.
2) Rohit Sharma
540 runs at 49
Two years into his tenure now he feels that Rohit Sharma needs to put his stamp on the captaincy. However, his batting made the same big impression as always. He also had a tough job, as eight of his 11 innings were against Australia. He made a stunning century against them on a spinning pitch in Nagpur when no one else managed a top six on either side of a fifty, and scored another ton on tour against the West Indies in July. He did it in style, hitting as many sixes of his own as Khawaja, Zak Crawley, and David Warner managed between them.
3) Kane Williamson
696 runs at 58
Williamson stepped down from the captaincy at the start of the year, although he already seemed so self-effacing it was surprising to find he had any room left to retreat into. In the ranks, he sometimes struggled to get in, but when he did he was as effective as ever. He made the final of the match with his 132 in a famous one-run win after New Zealand followed up on England in Wellington, then made an unbeaten century and then another double against Sri Lanka, capping his with another century against Bangladesh in Sylhet.
4) Joe Root
787 runs for 66, 8 wickets for 18 at an average
People who meet Root for the first time are always surprised to find out how tall he is. He’s 6ft 2in or so, a height that contradicts a man who thinks it’s a good idea to try and get a backhand off the first ball of his innings against Pat Cummins. Root made two fine scores this year, against New Zealand in Wellington and Australia at Edgbaston. And if he was a little less efficient than when he was grinding out all those hidden hundreds in his captaincy days, he was never more entertaining to watch.
5) Head of Travis
679 runs at 42
At the end of the year Head was appointed co-vice-captain of Australia in a clear sign of his growing importance to the team. His bat may be a bit quicker than some of Australia’s top order players who have gone before him, but he is not unstoppable when bowled. And if the bowlers had some success bowling short against him, he still picked up plenty of runs while doing so, most notably when he scored his 163-ball run in the World Test Championship final.
6) Ravindra Jadeja
281 runs at 35, 33 wickets at 19
India ask a lot of Jadeja, picking as high as No. 6 in the order and often playing him as the lone spinner. But it is equal to all. He tore Australia apart in the spring, taking 22 wickets at 18 in four Tests, including career-best figures of seven for 42 at Delhi. In that same game he also made a crucial four-hour 70. He played it the other way around in the final of the World Test Championship a few months later, when he retired from a 48-ball run to go with his three for 58. in the second innings. His pitching was as great as ever, too.
7) Lorcan Tucker
351 runs at 44, 7 dismissals
He was the first Irishman ever to win one of the Guardians of the Year team of the year, Tucker only played four goals, but made almost as many runs in them as Alex Carey did in twelve for Australia. Tucker has played just 19 first-class matches, and said in June that he felt he was “learning Test cricket on the job”. But it’s a quick study. In Mirpur, he scored his first century after coming in when his team was 51 for 5. He then made 80 in a heavy defeat against Sri Lanka in Galle, and 44 against England at Lord’s.
8) Ravichandran Ashwin
142 runs at 24, 40 wickets at 16
The world’s best Test bowler was not even included in India’s XI for the final of the World Test Championship, a decision that could have put the title on his side. You didn’t even have to look back to see it. Ashwin took 25 wickets at 18 each against Australia in the spring. He was more economical than anyone sharper than him, and more astute than anyone more economical. One of the game’s great problem solvers, he should be seen as one of the best to ever play, if he couldn’t figure out how to keep his place in the team.
9) Pat Cummins (c)
225 runs at 16, 32 wickets at 33
The enduring image of Cummins’ year is him batting at Edgbaston, where his unbeaten 44 stole the first Ashes Test away from England. The series, the summer, turned on that innings, Cummins’ captaincy seemed to be. He led his team through very difficult times. He was pitted against India’s bowlers and England’s batsmen, and faced criticism from the press and public about everything from his views on the climate crisis, to the spirit of cricket. And he took them through as world Test champions and Ashes holders.
10) Mitchell Starc
147 runs for 15, 34 wickets for 29
After eight years, Starc signed for another stint in the Indian Premier League last December. He went for £1.9m at auction, making him the most expensive player in the league, and was a reminder of what he could have been earning over the years if he hadn’t focused on playing for Australia. He arrived in England with a point to prove, had a mediocre record here, and wasn’t even sure if he would win a place in the team. He left it, two months later, as the leading wicket-taker in an Ashes series, with 23 at 27.
11) Stuart Broad
112 runs at 11, 38 wickets at 26
Mark Wood Bowled faster, Chris Woakes took his wickets more cheaply, and Josh Hazlewood had a lower strike rate, but there was just no way to leave Broad out of the XI. There was one of the great seasons, from his one-man war against Australia in the newspapers, his first delivery to Marnus Labuschagne, his cussed bat after Jonny Bairstow’s run out at Lord’s, his last six, the bail switch, those last two wickets. And at the end of it all he somehow ended up with more wickets than any other quick. Forget the boys’ own finishes, Broad’s was as good as they got.
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