(Web Desk) - ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 finalists dominated the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year 2023.
Usman Khawaja’s purple patch since his dream comeback in January 2022 has shown no signs of slowing down and he finds himself in ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year for the second year running, while also being nominated for the Test Cricketer of the Year.
The Aussie opener was the only batter in 2023 to score more than 1000 runs in Tests, aggregating 1210 runs in 13 matches at an average of 52.60, which included six centuries and six fifties.
Khawaja kicked off the year with a career-best innings, scoring an unbeaten 195 against South Africa in Sydney. He continued his impressive form by concluding as the highest run-scorer (333 runs) in the Border-Gavaskar series in India.
After a forgettable showing in the WTC23 Final – where Australia emerged victorious – Khawaja bounced back in the Ashes with a century and finished the year on a high with five scores of 40+ in the six innings.
Pat Cummins has been named as captain of the team. Anything that Pat Cummins touched turned into gold in 2023. As a result, he finds himself captaining the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year to go with the nomination for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
His impressive achievements as captain included leading Australia to victory in the World Test Championship and successfully retaining the Ashes in the same year. Cummins was also unstoppable with the ball, topping the wicket-takers charts for pacers with 42 wickets in 11 matches.
Following the other players named in the Test team of the year:
Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka)
Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
Joe Root (England)
Travis Head (Australia)
Ravindra Jadeja (India)
Alex Carey (wk) (Australia)
Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
Mitchell Starc (Australia)
Stuart Broad (England)