No Saffers in ICC Test Team of 2015 – but three make the ODI lineup

England skipper Alastair Cook was named captain of the ICC Team of the Year on Wednesday, with international team-mates Joe Root and Stuart Broad also selected.

Published on:

03 Dec 2015, 5:12 am

From Agence France-Presse

England skipper Alastair Cook was named captain of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Team of the Year on Wednesday, with international team-mates Joe Root and Stuart Broad also selected.

Cook, 30, has recaptured his form in 2015, skippering England to Ashes glory against Australia and recently hitting 263 against Pakistan, and is the current leading Test run-scorer for the year.

England's Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad

He was included in the ICC team, selected by an expert panel, for the fourth time and the second as captain.

"I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the Test and ODI teams of the year," said awards selection panel chairman Anil Kumble, the former India captain.

"It is an achievement for each of them to be proud of and a recognition for their good performances in the qualifying period."

Root scored two crucial Ashes centuries and is currently joint top of the Test batting rankings.

Broad, selected for the fifth time, is the leading fast bowling wicket-taker in Tests this year and recorded career-best figures of 8-15 against Australia at his home ground of Trent Bridge.

Australia captain Steve Smith and New Zealand's left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult were named in both the Test and one-day international teams, with Root appointed 12th man for the one-day side.

South African lynchpin AB de Villiers captains the 50-over team.

ICC Test Team of the Year

A Cook (England, capt), D Warner (Australia), K Williamson (New Zealand), Younis Khan (Pakistan), S Smith (Australia), J Root (England), Sarfraz Ahmed (Pakistan), S Broad (England), T Boult (New Zealand), Yasir Shah (Pakistan), J Hazlewood (Australia); 12th man: R Ashwin (India)

ICC one-day international Team of the Year

AB de Villiers (South Africa, capt), T Dilshan (Sri Lanka), H Amla (South Africa), K Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), S Smith (Australia), R Taylor (New Zealand), T Boult (New Zealand), M Shami (India), M Starc (Australia), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Imran Tahir (South Africa); 12th man: J Root

From News24

Cape Town – It will probably seem bizarre to some domestic observers that No 1-ranked South Africa failed to earn a single spot in the International Cricket Council's annual Test team of the year revealed on Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/jamesstyan/status/672003974569074688

Truth be told, there has been no heinous cold-shouldering of the country by the ICC's selection panel, headed by their cricket committee chairperson Anil Kumble.

The qualification period (September 18, 2014 to September 13 this year) simply coincided with a limited period of activity by the SA Test team, no single series of any special gravitas for them and one severely disrupted by the elements.

All they had in roster terms during that time were a mundane home series against currently eighth-ranked West Indies – they duly won 2-0, with one weather-affected draw in Port Elizabeth – and then a tamely-shared mini-series in the Bangladeshi monsoon season, when only two full innings were completed over the course of the two matches and all-day washouts were dispiritingly common.

It gave the ICC "wise men" a desperately limited list of statistical ammunition from which to judge South African Test stars, after Dale Steyn (for a record seventh successive time) and AB de Villiers (fifth inclusion) had both cracked the nod in their 2014 side.

By contrast, for instance, this year's surprise packages Pakistan – rising anew through the Test ranks and currently third – had a busy period of five-day activity during the qualifying 12 months, in which they beat (in order) Australia 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, drew 1-1 with New Zealand in the UAE, beat Bangladesh 1-0 in a two-game away series, and beat Sri Lanka 2-1 in their own backyard.

That productive sequence helps explain why three Pakistani players made the ICC 2015 elite Test combination – along with a trio each of Australians and Englishmen.

Sadly the Proteas are already on the back foot in terms of their bid to feature strongly in the 2016 team, having lost the series in India even with one to play.

They will have to hope to make up ground both as a team and individually in respective home series against England and New Zealand before next year's ICC cut-off. – Sport24

Source: http://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/icc-test-xi-proteas-not-snubbed-20151202

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