Reuters
Cricket – Australia Nets – SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – 6/7/15. Australia’s Steven Smith during a training session. Action Images via Reuters / Philip Brown Livepic
Reuters
Cricket – Australia Nets – SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – 6/7/15. Australia’s Steven Smith during a training session. Action Images via Reuters / Philip Brown Livepic
By Amlan Chakraborty
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Australia captain Steven Smith and New Zealand paceman Trent Boult made the International Cricket Council’s (ICC), test as well as one-day international team of the year announced on Wednesday.
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England skipper Alastair Cook was named the captain of the test side while South Africa’s AB de Villiers was put in charge of the one-day team by a special panel headed by former India captain Anil Kumble.
Currently the top-ranked team in the five-day format, South Africa had no representative in the test squad, while Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson was left out of the ODI side despite being the leading run-scorer in the qualification period.
“Testament to the quality of cricket played is the calibre of players to have missed out on selection,” Kumble said in an ICC statement.
“While selecting these squads, the selectors considered various combinations and took into account several factors in overall performances,” added the former leg-spinner.
Australia, England and Pakistan had three players each in the test squad while New Zealand had two in Boult and Williamson.
De Villiers has two compatriots in the ODI squad — batsman Hashim Amla and leggie Imran Tahir — which also included recently retired Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara as the wicketkeeper.
Bangladesh’s growing ODI reputation was reflected with 20-year-old left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman becoming the first player from his country to make the ODI team.
ICC Test Team of the Year: David Warner (Aus), Alastair Cook (Eng-captain), Kane Williamson (NZ), Younus Khan (Pak), Steven Smith (Aus), Joe Root (Eng), Sarfraz Ahmed (Pak- wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad (Eng), Trent Boult (NZ), Yasir Shah (Pak), Josh Hazlewood (Aus); 12th man: Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)
ICC ODI Team of the Year 2015: Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Hashim Amla (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL-wicketkeeper), AB de Villiers (SA) (captain), Steven Smith (Aus), Ross Taylor (NZ) Trent Boult (NZ), Mohammed Shami (Ind), Mitchell Starc (Aus), Mustafizur Rahman (Bang), Imran Tahir (SA); 12th man: Joe Root (Eng)
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
