KANE WILLIAMSON TO LEAD TEST TEAM OF 2023, TWO INDIAN PLAYERS INCLUDED

Australia’s Usman Khawaja and England's Zak Crawley would open the innings for the Test team of 2023. Khawaja had a wonderful year again in red-ball cricket, amassing 1210 runs in 24 innings at an average of 52.60 with three hundreds...

-  RENIN WILBEN

The year 2023 is coming to an end. The last 12 months have witnessed plenty of action. If we talk about Test cricket, Australia won five and lost four games heading into the Boxing Day Test. Their Ashes rivals England won four and lost three. India had a mixed year, winning three Tests and losing two matches. New Zealand won four and lost two, Pakistan won two and lost one, South Africa lost two and drew one while Sri Lanka won two and lost four. West Indies continued their struggle in international cricket, winning one losing three while one match ended in a tie. On that note let’s look at the Test team of 2023.

OPENERS: USMAN KHAWAJA AND ZAK CRAWLEY

Australia’s Usman Khawaja and England’s Zak Crawley would open the innings for the Test team of 2023. Khawaja had a wonderful year again in red-ball cricket, amassing 1210 runs in 24 innings at an average of 52.60 with three hundreds and six fifties. He began the year with 195* against South Africa in Sydney, scored 180 against India in Ahmedabad, and 141 versus England in Birmingham.

 25-year-old Crawley wasn’t as consistent but did play some hugely defining knocks. In 15 innings, he scored 606 runs at an average of 43.28 with one hundred and three fifties. He scored a superb 189 off 182 balls, smacking 21 fours and three sixes to set up England’s win in the Ashes Test in Manchester. Crawley ended 2023 in Tests with another aggressive 73 off 76 at The Oval.

MIDDLE-ORDER: JOE ROOT, KANE WILLIAMSON (CAPTAIN), TRAVIS HEAD, JONNY BAIRSTOW (WK)