Test XI of the Year 2014

2014. Tumultuous. Fiery. Saddening. When Mitchell Johnson steamed into bowl during the Ashes in early January, the tone of Test cricket was set for the year. It was going to be menacing, it was going to be hard, and the game would redefine the fast bowler, once and for all. And hence it’s rather saddening that the very bouncer that made the Englishmen hop and the South Africans dance would be used with such tentativeness by the time the year came to an end.2014 would be remembered as the year in which the game claimed a promising career, but it would also be remembered as the year in which out of 15 series played, 13 gave results. Teams plundered runs and that too, at a tremendous pace. The impact of the advent of T20 was finally visible. 500+ runs were made in 15 innings, out of the five batsmen who had more than 1000 runs to their name – four had an average that was above 65. And it wasn’t just the batsmen who were having fun.Rangana Herath took nine, agonisingly close to equalling Jim Laker and Anil Kumble; little known Taijul Islam took eight wickets in an innings for Bangladesh, and the seven-wicket barrier was constantly touched – the honours shared by Johnson, Ishant Sharma, Mark Craig and Nathan Lyon. While Australia dominated 2014, with a win percentage of over sixty, India’s fledgling Test team gave heartaches, winning only 11% of their total games. It’s that time of the year when we list out the performers who stamped their class and authority everywhere they went. But before that, a few clarifications are in order:1) The shortlisting has been done taking into consideration the overall runs scored/wickets taken and their respective averages.2) The shortlisted players’ performance (only) against the top 8 Test teams of the ICC Cricket Rankings are then considered to evaluate their efficiency. The top 8 excludes Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. This has been done to avoid any inflationary impact on a player’s records due to his performances against weaker teams.3) The metrics used include home record, away record and performance in winning causes. The latter two have been allotted significant importance because of the sheer challenge in performing under alien conditions and putting up your best to help your team cross the line.4) The evaluation period starts from the Ashes in the 2013/14 season and ends with the completion of the India-Australia & South Africa-West Indies Test matches yesterday. 5) The team comprises of five batsmen, one wicketkeeper-batsman, one all-rounder and four specialist bowlers.And here we go...

#1 David Warner (Australia)

If there’s anyone in this line-up who just walks in straightaway, without any discussion or doubt, then it is this man.

David Warner has been in phenomenal form ever since he picked up the bat during the Ashes in late 2013, and has carried it right through to the home series against India. He has nearly 1600 runs in this period and a mind-boggling eight centuries. Despite a rough couple of weeks lately, he notched up centuries in both innings of the Test match against India at Adelaide, reaffirming his position as 2014’s best opener in Test cricket. Who would’ve thought!

	INN	RUNS	AVG	50s	100s	HS
Overall	24	1587	69.00	5	8	145
Home	14	805	61.92	2	4	145
Away	10	782	78.20	3	4	145
Winning	18	1212	71.29	2	7	145