The International Cricket Council on Tuesday announced the ICC Teams of the Year, a feature of the ICC Awards 2022 which captures the best combined XIs across the different formats of men’s and women’s international cricket after an action-packed year of competition.
Two days of staggered announcements have seen five lineups revealed; the ICC Men’s and Women’s T20I Teams of the Year, the ICC Men’s and Women’s ODI Teams of the Year and the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year. In total, 11 countries are represented across the various lineups, which feature a number of World Cup winners, ICC Players of the Month and some of the most exciting emerging talents from the past calendar year.
Teams were identified from selections submitted by the specialist panel of media representatives that make up the ICC Voting Academy. The esteemed panel made their selections based on player performances throughout the calendar year, nominating their one to 11 and choosing a captain and a wicketkeeper for each.
ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year:
1 Usman Khawaja (Aus)
2 Kraigg Brathwaite (WI)
3 Marnus Labuschagne (Aus)
4 Babar Azam (Pak)
5 Jonny Bairstow (Eng)
6 Ben Stokes (c) (Eng)
7 Rishabh Pant (wk) (Ind)
8 Pat Cummins (Aus)
9 Kagiso Rabada (SA)
10 Nathan Lyon (Aus)
11 James Anderson (Eng)
The ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year is littered with outstanding performers in the longest format. With a combined 6,988 runs during the calendar year and 198 wickets, there are outstanding individuals throughout the lineup.
Australia enjoyed another year of Test success, consolidating their position atop the ICC World Test Championship standings. Four of their stars feature in this Test XI, including top ranked batter and bowler in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Rankings, Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins.
Ben Stokes took the England captaincy in April and was a key catalyst for their Test revival. He is named captain of this side which features two of his teammates, James Anderson and ICC Men’s Player of the Month winner for June, Jonny Bairstow.
This side also boasts Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who scored more Test runs than any other batter in 2022, and the world’s leading Test wicket-takers during the year, Nathan Lyon and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year:
1 Alyssa Healy (wk) (Aus)
2 Smriti Mandhana (Ind)
3 Laura Wolvaardt (SA)
4 Nat Sciver (Eng)
5 Beth Mooney (Aus)
6 Harmanpreet Kaur (c) (Ind)
7 Amelia Kerr (NZ)
8 Sophie Ecclestone (Eng)
9 Ayabonga Khaka (SA)
10 Renuka Singh (Ind)
11 Shabnim Ismail (SA)
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand was filled with spectacular individual performances and breathtaking last-over drama, and the icons of the tournament feature heavily in the Women’s ODI Team of the Year, led by India’s influential skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
Australia clinched the silverware back in March, and two figures who contributed significantly to their triumph are named in the Team – Beth Mooney and the ICC Player of the Tournament, Alyssa Healy – both of whom rank in the top two of the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for batters.
South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt enjoyed another remarkable run in 2022, scoring more runs than any other batter in ODIs, and her compatriot Shabnim Ismail joins her in this illustrious XI as the leading wicket-taker during the year in the format.
The Women’s ODI Team of the Year also boasts several other prolific wicket-takers, including India’s Renuka Singh, who flourished in her first full year of ODI cricket, and the top-ranked bowler in the format, England’s Sophie Ecclestone, who claimed the most wickets in New Zealand during the Women’s CWC.
ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year:
1 Babar Azam (c) (Pak)
2 Travis Head (Aus)
3 Shai Hope (WI)
4 Shreyas Iyer (Ind)
5 Tom Latham (wk) (NZ)
6 Sikandar Raza (Zim)
7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Ban)
8 Alzarri Joseph (WI)
9 Mohammed Siraj (Ind)
10 Trent Boult (NZ)
11 Adam Zampa (Aus)
Heading into ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup year, the Men’s ODI Team of the Year spans the last 12 months of competitive bilateral cricket, and no fewer than seven nations are represented in the lineup for 2022.
Pakistan’s Babar Azam is named in the XI as captain for the second consecutive year, after scoring 679 runs at a phenomenal average of 84.87 to consolidate his position at the summit of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings for batters.
Babar leads the side which includes top run scorer in ODIs, India’s Shreyas Iyer, who registered 724 runs in his 17 matches. Shai Hope also features after another impressive year for West Indies, sharing three centuries apiece with the skipper.
Another player who celebrated three centuries was Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza. The ICC Men’s Player of the Month for August peaked in 2022, attaining his highest ranking position among all-rounder’s during the year.
The bowling lineup boasts pace, spin expertise, and plenty of wicket-taking ability. Four of the top five leading ODI wicket-takers of 2022 are named in the Men’s ODI Team of the Year – Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammed Siraj, Alzarri Joseph and Adam Zampa. Completing the bowling attack is the number one-ranked bowler in the format, New Zealand paceman Trent Boult.
ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year:
1 Smriti Mandhana (Ind)
2 Beth Mooney (Aus)
3 Sophie Devine (c) (NZ)
4 Ash Gardner (Aus)
5 Tahlia McGrath (Aus)
6 Nida Dar (Pak)
7 Deepti Sharma (Ind)
8 Richa Ghosh (wk) (Ind)
9 Sophie Ecclestone (Eng)
10 Inoka Ranaweera (SL)
11 Renuka Singh (Ind)
2022 saw cricket return to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the first appearance of women’s cricket on the schedule. Australia were triumphant at Edgbaston, and three of their heroes are selected for the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year, which is led by New Zealand’s Sophie Devine.
Tahlia McGrath claimed the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award in August following her inspired campaign at the Commonwealth Games, and she reached her highest rating in December at the summit of the Women’s T20I batter rankings. Similarly, teammate Ash Gardner rose to the top of the Women’s T20I all-rounder rankings in December, clinching the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award in the same month.
India’s Smriti Mandhana opens the batting, and she ended 2022 as the highest run scorer in Women’s T20Is during the year with 594 runs in total. Her compatriots Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh lead the bowling lineup, with the former having taken more wickets than any other player in Women’s T20Is.
Supported by Pakistan’s Nida Dar, Sri Lanka’s Inoka Ranaweera and number one-ranked bowler Sophie Ecclestone, the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year took 153 T20I wickets in 2022, leaving no doubt as to the firepower they possess.
ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year:
1 Jos Buttler (c) (wk) (Eng)
2 Mohammad Rizwan (Pak)
3 Virat Kohli (Ind)
4 Suryakumar Yadav (Ind)
5 Glenn Phillips (NZ)
6 Sikandar Raza (Zim)
7 Hardik Pandya (Ind)
8 Sam Curran (Eng)
9 Wanindu Hasaranga (SL)
10 Haris Rauf (Pak)
11 Josh Little (Ire)
The lineup for the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year includes many familiar names from the breathtaking action that unfolded at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia. Jos Buttler secured the England captaincy in June, and is selected the skipper of this dream team after sealing the silverware down under.
Buttler also opens the batting alongside Mohammad Rizwan, who scored ten half-centuries during the year and fell agonizingly short of 1,000 T20I runs. In fact the only player to surpass this milestone was India’s Suryakumar Yadav, and the number-one ranked batter was in blistering form during the Men’s T20WC. Yadav is one of three Indian players named in the XI, with Hardik Pandya slotting in together with Virat Kohli, whose excellent performances in the tournament earned him the ICC Player of the Month accolade for October.
The bowling attack features prolific Irishman Josh Little, who was the leading wicket-taker in the format for the year with 39 wickets at an average of 18.92.
Sikandar Raza was an integral figure for Zimbabwe in T20Is through the year, not least in qualifying, and he is one of two expert spinners in the side. Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka took more wickets than anybody in the Men’s T20WC, and another star of the tournament completes the lineup – the Player of the Match in the Final, and the Player of the Tournament, England’s Sam Curran.
Content courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone.
