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As many as four English, two Indians, two Kiwis, and one player each from Sri Lanka, Australia, and Bangladesh are part of CN’s best Test team of 2024. Here’s a look:
CN Test XI of 2024. (Picture Credit: AP, AFP, PTI)
2024 was a memorable year for Test cricket as all 12 Test-playing nations took the field this year, and 10 of them even managed to win at least one match as well. The year kicked off with a match that turned out to be the shortest completed game in terms of balls bowled, and it ended with a five-day thriller between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Let’s look back and recall some outstanding players who performed astoundingly well in the five-day format in the year gone by.
Here’s CricketNext’s Test team of 2024:
Yashasvi Jaiswal (India): Young opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal played in all 15 Test matches for India in 2024, and with the help of two double centuries, one century, and nine half-centuries, scored a total of 1478 runs. He finished the year 2024 as the second-leading run scorer in the five-day format of the game as well as in international cricket, and in addition to that, he also broke the record of hitting the most sixes in a calendar year in Test cricket.
Ben Duckett (England): Ben Duckett scored 1149 runs in 17 Tests for England in 2024 to finish as the third leading run-scorer. The 30-year-old right-handed batter scored one Test century each in India, Pakistan, and England.
Joe Root (England): Joe Root tops the list of batters with the most Test runs in 2024. The former England Test captain was in red-hot form in 2024 and scored 1556 runs in 17 matches. He slammed one Test century each in India and New Zealand, three in England, and one double century in Pakistan. He finished the year as world No. 1 Test batter and also became England’s leading run scorer and centurion in Tests.
Harry Brook (England): In 12 Tests for England in 2024, Harry Brook amassed a total of 1100 runs. In the first Test of England’s three-match away series against Pakistan, the right-handed batter scored 317 runs and also slammed back-to-back centuries against New Zealand.
Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka): Kamindu Mendis played nine Tests for Sri Lanka in 2024 and scored 1049 runs at an average of 74.92, which is the best by any player (minimum 400 runs). He equalled Don Bradman’s record of completing 1000 Test runs in just 13 innings and played a big role in Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win at home against New Zealand, which has kept them alive in the race to qualify for the WTC 2025 final.
Jamie Smith (England, WK): Wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith made his Test debut for England in a home series against the West Indies, and in nine Test matches for the Ben Stokes-led side, he scored 637 runs in 2024. In addition to his batting, Smith impressed with his glovework and completed 31 catches.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Bangladesh): All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 614 runs and picked up 31 wickets in 10 Test matches for Bangladesh in 2024. The 27-year-old cricketer played a big role in Bangladesh’s first-ever Test series win in Pakistan (155 runs, 10 wickets in two matches) and won the Player of the Series award.
Gus Atkinson (England): Gus Atkinson made his Test debut for England in July 2024 against the West Indies, and in his first year itself, he dismissed 52 batters in 11 red-ball matches, which also made him only the second bowler in history to take 50+ Test wickets in his first calendar year. The 26-year-old cricketer also scored 352 Test runs in 2024, which includes a century at Lord’s and also has a Test hat-trick to his name against New Zealand in Wellington.
Pat Cummins (Australia, Captain): Australian captain Pat Cummins scored 306 runs and dismissed 37 batters in nine Tests for Australia in 2024. The 31-year-old cricketer is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the ongoing five-match Test series against India and is just a win/draw away from becoming the first Australian captain in 10 years to win a Test series against India.
Jasprit Bumrah (India): Bumrah played 13 Tests for India in 2024 and dismissed 71 batters, which is the most by any player. The 31-year-old right-arm fast bowler sits at No. 1 position in the ICC Test bowler’s ranking, and he also led India to a 295-run win over Australia in the first Test of the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy played at Optus Stadium in Perth. In 2024, Bumrah picked up a six-wicket haul in South Africa and Australia and also dismissed six English batters in the first innings of the Vizag Test, which was played in February.
Matt Henry (New Zealand): Matt Henry managed to take 48 wickets in nine Test matches for New Zealand in 2024. The 33-year-old fast bowler from Christchurch dismissed 17 batters (8 + 9) in the two-match Test series against Australia, in addition to scoring 101 runs, and then got rid of eight Indian batters in the first Test of the three-match series to set up the tone for a historic whitewash.
