Like every cricketing year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its ODI and Test teams of the year, with performers being duly rewarded for their consistent performances. Apart from naming the teams for respective formats, the ICC also handed out its awards to performers of the year gone by. For naming any individual in a prestigious category, the ICC considered the period from September 14, 2015 to September 20, 2016 as the cut off or qualification date.
For this period, explosive South Africa wicket-keeper Quinton De Kock was named the ICC ODI Player for the Year. De Kock had a sensational ODI year as he amassed runs for fun and did so at an astonishing strike rate. At 793 runs in 16 ODIs, with four centuries to his name, de Kock indeed was the standout performer as far as ODIs are concerned.
The ICC Test Player and ICC Cricketer Of the Year belonged to India’s very own Ravichandran Ashwin, whose wicket-taking abilities remain top notch. For the mentioned period, Ashwin took 48 wickets in eight games at an awe-inspiring average 15.39. These stats from Ashwin also include a couple of Man of the Series awards in Tests against South Africa and the West Indies, the latter one being away from home.
However, as far as the ICC ODI and Test teams are concerned, there is surely room for further improvement. A few individuals, who churned out some impressive performances, could feel a bit hard done. Keeping that in mind, we have a look at the respective teams, that could be altered a bit in order to accommodate a few players.
ICC ODI XI:
Before we analyse the case, let’s have a look at the selected XI:
1 David Warner, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Mitchell Marsh, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Sunil Narine, 12 Imran Tahir
- Alex Hales for David Warner:
If we look into the matter closely, we’ll understand that Warner has piled up ODI records mainly outside the cut off period. In the very same time, England opener Alex Hales was the second highest run-getter in ODIs with 914 runs at an average of 57.12. In terms of runs, Hales was second only to Joe Root. As compared to Warner, Hales averages seven more per innings. What makes the England star a dynamic package is that in the ODI series against South Africa away from home, he amassed five consecutive scores in excess of 50 and was the Man of the Series.