After a year in which Ben Stokes’ England began their mission to redraw the parameters of Test cricket, our team of 2022 has a different feel to it. There are only three survivors from our 2021 selection, with more than half the votes from our 31-strong voting panel of writers and broadcasters going to cricketers from England or Australia. Indian players dominated in 2021, accounting for almost a third of the total votes, but with one honourable exception, they were almost entirely ignored this time around. It’s a remarkable statistic that no specialist batter from India received a single vote from our panel, reflecting an uneven year for the game’s financial superpower in which they lost a series in South Africa and were Bairstowed in Birmingham.
Three England players make our side following the team’s astonishing transformation – with their maverick coach also making an appearance in these pages – but they couldn’t match Australia’s tally of four. It’s tantalising to think that seven of the best 11 players from the year just gone will be locking horns this summer – and that’s with two of the greatest batters the game has seen not making the cut for our side.
Concerns for the future of Test cricket are well-documented and justified but – on the field at least – the format appears in rude health. South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka all upset members of the ‘big three’ in 2022, while Bangladesh’s stunning win against WTC champions New Zealand at Mount Maunganui back in January showed that anything is possible. It’s telling that in the year of a T20 World Cup, it’s still Test cricket that provides the memories which will live longest.