CricTracker's Test Team of the Year 2014

David Warner (Australia) David Warner has been Australia’s top performer since his debut. Yet alone in 2014. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches: 9, Innings: 17, Runs: 1096, Highest: 145, 100s: 6, 50s: 3, Average: 64.47 Ever since David Warner made his comeback after punching Joe Root right in the face, he has been in such a purple patch of his career that no one would have predicted for him. Even in the tests, a format thought to not suit his style of batting, David Warner has been Australia’s top performer since his debut. Yet alone in 2014, David Warner scored 6 hundreds – most for any batsman in 2014, 3 of whom came in consecutive innings and averaged more than 68. Such has been his approach towards this form of the game that he strikes 80+ runs every hundred balls. Twice this year, he scored dual hundreds in the same Test match and he is the hottest choice to open any Test batting line-up of 2014. Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) – Wicket-Keeper You cannot dream of a better year as a player and captain of your team. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches: 9, Innings: 16, Runs: 1164, Highest: 302, 100s: 4, 50s: 0, Average: 72.75 You cannot dream of a better year as a player and captain of your team. The amount of runs he has scored in 2014 is the highest he has ever scored in a calendar year. Brendon McCullum then broke the New Zealand record of Fastest Test Century by a New Zealand player (78 balls) vs Pakistan at Sharjah and then in the next match he broke his own record against Sri Lanka at home (74 balls). Twice in the year he had a test innings in which he smashed 11 sixes each – no other player has repeated it more than once. He has smashed 33 sixes in 2014 – the best anyone could manage in a year before this was 22. If he had scored 5 more runs in his 195 vs Sri Lanka, he would have been only the 2nd batsman after Michael Clarke to score four double centuries in a calendar year. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) Be it ODIs or the longest format Tests, Kumar Sangakkara has topped both of the batting charts. (Photo: Sky Sports) Matches: 11, Innings: 21, Runs: 1502, Highest: 319, 100s: 4, 50s: 9, Average: 75.10 At the age of 37, Kumar Sangakkara had a season that any batsman in the world will dream of. No one in the history of international cricket has scored more than Sangakkara in a single calendar year that he has scored in 2104. He retired from the shortest format after winning the WT20 for Sri Lanka in April and will want to retire from the ODIs on a high too. Be it ODIs or the longest format Tests, Kumar Sangakkara has topped both of the batting charts. His career best innings of 319 also came in 2014 against Bangladesh in February – an innings that included 32 boundaries and 8 majestic sixes. Younis Khan (Pakistan) Younis Khan has now come a long way from the duel with his country’s chief selector Moin Khan and PCB. Starting the year with 136 vs Sri Lanka. (Photo Source : Getty Images). Matches: 10, Innings: 20, Runs: 1213, Highest: 213, 100s: 6, 50s: 2, Average: 71.35 A man who was dropped by his cricket board without any specific reason and he threatens to take his life if not given a proper answer, Younis Khan has now come a long way from the duel with his country’s chief selector Moin Khan and PCB. Starting the year with 136 vs Sri Lanka, Younis Khan scored six centuries in total for Pakistan in tests in 2014 and seven across all formats. After he was dropped from the ODI side, Younis Khan used his anger and aggression for run-scoring. For a complete month, starting with the series against Australia in October, he was unbeatable. This spree of runs that made him only the 5th Pakistani batsman to score 3 consecutive Test centuries and only the 2nd in the whole history of the game to do it against the Aussies. Steve Smith (Australia) Smith had only 2 Test hundreds before 2014 and a Test average of just a touch above 30. (Photo Source : Getty Images) Matches: 9, Runs: 1012, Highest: 162*, 100s: 4, 50s: 5, Average: 84.33, Wickets: 5, Best Figures: 1/30 For a man first picked for his leg-break bowling and termed to be Australia’s next Shane Warne, Steve Smith took his time from being a bowling all-rounder to being one of Australia’s long lists of technically sound and corrected test batsmen. Smith had only 2 Test hundreds before 2014 and a Test average of just a touch above 30, but he worked hard on his game and now has a Test average of nearly 48 with 6 hundreds and has taken 16 wickets as a part-timer spin option. His hard work was well rewarded by Cricket Australia when he became Australia’s latest Test Captain vs India at Brisbane. Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh) 2014 was a mixed year for Shakib Al Hasan when he was banned by BCB to take part in any cricket leagues but he came back, hard on his opposition. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches: 5, Runs: 424, Highest: 137, 100s: 1, 50s: 3, Average: 47.11, Wickets: 27, Best Figures: 6/59 Bangladesh’s super-star Shakib Al Hasan has slowly made a huge fan base for him around the globe because on his excellent skills always trying for a win and always hungry to perform better and better. 2014 was a mixed year for Shakib Al Hasan when he was banned by BCB to take part in any cricket leagues but he came back, hard on his opposition. He achieved a unquiet feat against Zimbabwe in November when he became only the 3rd all-rounder after Sir Ian Botham and Imran Khan to score a century and take 10-wickets in the same test match. When bowling, He demanded good footwork from batsmen but the opponents were lazy at times and genuinely flummoxed by the best cricketer ever produced by Bangladesh. When batting, he batted like a giant, making the bowlers pay for his wicket. Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) – Captain Right now his batting average as a Test captain is second after Sir Don Bradman. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches: 11, Runs: 1292, Highest: 160, 100s: 3, 50s: 7, Average: 92.28, Wickets: 8, Best Figures: 4/44 Even the selectors who made Angelo Mathews Sri Lanka’s captain in all formats of the game wouldn’t have thought that this man would bring so much glory to their island country that even greater captains Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene failed to bring. A series win in the Bangladesh, then Sri Lanka’s first World T20 Cup, a ODI and Test series win in England – country’s first, Test series win over Pakistan at home. Since March he has been out in single figures only once in 38 innings, and has made at least 30 in 24 of those knocks. 3 of his 4 Test centuries came in 2014. Right now his batting average as a Test captain is second after Sir Don Bradman. Mitchell Johnson (Australia) Mitc’HELL’ Johnson – As the name suggests, Johnson made the life of his opponents a living hell with his fast swing bowling bouncers. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches: 8, Innings: 16, Wickets: 42, Best Figures: 7/68, 5-fers: 2, Runs: 270, Highest: 88 Mitc’HELL’ Johnson – As the name suggests, Johnson made the life of his opponents a living hell with his fast swing bowling bouncers. No bowler in the history of cricket after the great West Indian bowlers from the 80s has won a Test series that too the Ashes Series, single-handed on his own. A pitch is offering some bounce and has some grass on it then there’s no stopping Mr. Johnson. He would bowl fast, direct his bouncers at your body and look to nearly kill you with his pace. But on dead pitches like he got in the UAE against Pakistan, it was a different story. Otherwise, his 42 wickets in 2014 are the best for any fast-bowler this year. Dale Steyn (South Africa) Dale Steyn has been a consistent performer as long as anyone can remember now. (Photo Source: AFP) Matches: 7, Innings: 14, Wickets: 39, Best Figures: 6/34, 5-fers: 3, Average: 18.33 Anderson and Johnson would have taken the badge of World’s Best Fast Bowler for a short time but Dale Steyn has been a consistent performer as long as anyone can remember now. The aggression and the pace with which he bowls is always a sight to watch. It doesn’t matter to him if it’s the limited-overs format or the Tests, he always gives his hundred percent. His power to eviscerating any batting lineup on any kind of pitch was at full display when he took 9 wickets on a dead Galle pitch and 8 wickets at a Harare pitch that offered nothing to the pacers. His average of 18.33 is the best by any bowler in 2014. Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) Rangana Herath celebrates as he takes 9 wickets for the team in an innings and becomes the first left-hander to take 9 wickets in an innings (Image Source : AFP) Matches: 10, Innings: 20, Wickets: 60, Best Figures: 9/127, 5-fers: 5, 10-wickets: 1 A bowler who was stuck to do a supporting role to world’s best off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, Rangana Herath rose to every opportunity after becoming Sri Lanka’s frontline spinner in 2010. Since then, he has taken 182 wickets in just 33 test matches and hardly anyone has noticed. The world kept on celebrating Saeed Ajmal and Graeme Swann but Rangana silently continued to perform and win matches on his own. His career best of 9/127 came at Colombo, his last test match appearance in 2014, when he spun Pakistan in his net of left-arm spin. Altogether he took 14 wickets in that match, another personal best and completed 250 wickets of his Test career. Ishant Sharma (India) 36 wickets in 13 innings with 3 5-fers in a year in which his team hasn’t and will not play a test match at home. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Matches: 8, Innings: 13, Wickets: 36, Best Figures: 7/74, 5-fers: 3, Average: 28.86 The tall jittering fast-bowler from Delhi has now become India’s pace spear-head after Zaheer Khan was dropped from the team and he has always kept the captain’s trust intact. 36 wickets in 13 innings with 3 5-fers in a year in which his team hasn’t and will not play a test match at home. Half of his career’s total 5-fers came in 2014. His best came when he ripped apart the English team at Lord’s earning him a Man-of-the Award only the 2nd time in his career. He may be higher in wickets but his tight line and length from one end helps the bowler at the other end to pick up wickets. (Here is ODI Team of the Year 2014.) This team is not an official team announced by the ICC but a work by Israr Ahmed Hashmi for CricTracker based on player statistics in 2014. All the stats mentioned are updated until 26th December, 2014. The stats include the 1st Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka that started on 31st December, 2013.

CricTracker&#039;s Test Team of the Year 2014

CricTracker's Test Team of the Year 2014