The ICC has recently announced its list of Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year award nominees.
This list features two English players, one Australian player, and one player from South Africa.
Surprisingly, there are no Indian and Pakistani players on this list. Even England’s modern Test great, Joe Root has failed to make it to this list.
In the list are the names of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow from England, Usman Khawaja of Australia, and South Africa’s pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada.
Babar Azam of Pakistan, despite having a terrific 2022 could not get a place in this elite list of players.
A detailed look at the list of nominees for ICC’s Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year
Starting with Ben Stokes. Stokes has been a key component of the English Test side this year as they won most matches under his captaincy.
Out of the 10 Test matches that the Three Lions played this year, they managed to win 9 of them.
Their only loss came against South Africa at home.
On an individual level, Stokes has made 870 runs that included two hundreds and four fifties, and has taken 26 wickets from 15 games.
Then comes his teammate Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow also had a great time this year in the red-ball format.
He played mostly an attacking brand of Test cricket and helped England win against New Zealand and India.
He now finishes 2022 with 1061 runs from 10 games and averages 66.31 with a strike rate of 76 that also includes six hundreds and a single fifty.
Coming Usman Khawaja then the Pakistan-born Australian might not be a regular in the white-ball side but he is certainly a top-notch player in red-ball cricket.
This year, Khawaja has scored 1080 runs from 11 games that include four hundreds and five fifties.
And finally, we have South Africa’s pace spearhead, Kagiso Rabada.
Rabada has been exceptional with the ball in hand for South Africa this year for what proved to be an otherwise hectic schedule for the Proteas.
One of his best Test performances came against England at Lord’s where he picked up a fifer.
This year, Rabada has 47 wickets from nine games that includes two fifers.
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