MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

After making a first foray into the seasonal filler market last year, when we picked a team for all formats, The Spin is back for a second crack. This time, it’s a straight Test team for 2015, picked, again, with the help of the Guardian’s cricket writers, Mike Selvey, Vic Marks, Rob Smyth, Ali Martin and Vish Ehantharajah.



Alastair Cook (C)

1,364 runs at 54.56

Began the year at a low ebb after being bounced out of England’s one-day captaincy. The decision rankled and Cook seemed to take a touch too much satisfaction in the team’s poor performance without him in the World Cup. As he has admitted since, however, the break did him the power of good. “Two months out of the firing line, some time to be at home, it gave me a new level of understanding and a new lease of life.” Under enormous pressure in the West Indies, he ground his way back into form by scoring two 50s in Grenada. Then, in Bridgetown he made 105, his first Test century in almost two years. He followed that with a superb 162 against New Zealand at Lord’s. The Ashes went by without a century but his captaincy looked sharper than ever. In the autumn, there was that monumental 263 against Pakistan.

David Warner

1,317 runs at 54.87

Began with a bang, with 101 against India in Sydney, but his form fell away when Australia travelled to the West Indies. In the Ashes, he was never quite able to take control of an innings or really collar the bowling. He admitted that he was finding the conditions difficult – “I don’t think you’re ever ‘in’ at all on these type of wickets over here” – but he still found a way to make consistent contributions and scored a 50 in each of the five Tests. On his home pitches in Australia, he was back to his blistering best and eviscerated New Zealand by scoring twin centuries in the first Test at Brisbane and then 253 in the second at Perth. Right now, only three opening batsmen in history have had a higher batting average after as many Tests or more than Warner’s 48: Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton and Jack Hobbs.

Kane Williamson

1,172 runs at 90.15

The King, as Brendon McCullum calls him. Started with an unbeaten 242 and a partnership of 365 with BJ Watling against Sri Lanka at Wellington. Followed that with 132 against England at Lord’s in his next Test innings, five months later. Bettered that with his single-handed resistance against Australia in the first innings at Brisbane, when he made 140 out of 317. Another 166 in the next Test at Perth, overshadowed, for once, by Ross Taylor, who made 290. Then ended as he began, with another unbeaten century at home against Sri Lanka. That pushed him up to the top of the ICC’s world rankings, the first New Zealander to get there since Glenn Turner back in 1974. The more relevant comparison is the one with Martin Crowe, who said back in January: “We’re seeing the dawn of probably our greatest ever batsman.”

Joe Root

1,385 runs at 60.21

Root scored twin 50s in the first Test against West Indies, then followed it with an unbeaten 182 in the second at Grenada. It’s surprising to be reminded now that this was his first Test century overseas. He was England’s leading run-scorer in the Ashes later that summer and was centre stage in one of the defining moments of the series when, dropped by Brad Haddin while his score was on 0, he went on to make 134 at Cardiff. His next century was another match-winner, 130 at Trent Bridge as England won back the Ashes. If there was one little quibble to be made, it was that Root sometimes got a little too loose as he closed in on his centuries. He was dismissed for 98 and 84 against New Zealand at Lord’s, then 88 and 85 against Pakistan in the autumn, too.

Steve Smith

1,474 runs at 73.70

Stuck in a three-way tussle with the two men above him in this team for the title of best batsman in the world, Smith scored more than either of his rivals. His year started with 117 against India in Sydney and his summer with a 199 against West Indies in Kingston. After that, he made 215 against England at Lord’s, when it seemed that he and Chris Rogers had entirely mastered the English attack. However, his form fell suddenly away in the two crucial Tests at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, and he was dismissed in single figures for four innings in a row. To his credit, he soon figured out what had gone wrong – he was moving too far back and across at the crease – and had fixed it in time for the fifth Test, where he made a stubborn 143. Confirmed as Australia’s Test captain when the series was over, he added another 138 against New Zealand at Perth and a final unbeaten 134 against West Indies in Melbourne.

Younis Khan

789 runs at 60.69

While the first five in the batting lineup were all unanimous picks, the sixth was the single most contentious spot of the lot, with votes split between AB de Villiers, Adam Voges and Ben Stokes. In the end, then, a valedictory pick for Old Everlasting, Younis Khan, in tribute to his utter indestructability as well as his current form. In May, Khan made 148 against Bangladesh and in October, 118 against England. In between the two, he played one of the great Test innings of the era, an unbeaten 171 against Sri Lanka in the fourth innings at Pallekele. Pakistan made 377 to win the match, the highest successful run chase in their history. On top of all that, Younis, ornery soul, found time to pick fights with his captain, his coach and the chairman of his board, complain that he shouldn’t have been dropped from the ODI team, and then quit ODI cricket when they finally picked him.

Dinesh Chandimal (WK)

901 runs at 47.42

21 catches/four stumpings

Winner of a split decision over BJ Watling, largely on the strength of his batting, and in particular two spectacular innings at Galle. The first was in the first Test against India, one of those rare knocks that makes fans stop then drop whatever they are doing as word spreads that something special is happening on the far side of the world. At 95 for 5 in the third innings, Sri Lanka were still 97 runs behind. And then Chandimal exploded, sweeping, reverse-sweeping, slapping, slogging and switch-hitting. In the four merry hours, he made 162 from 169 balls and gave Sri Lanka a lead of 175. They ended up winning by the match by 63 runs. Against West Indies in October, playing as a specialist batsman this time, Chandimal went about his work in a different way and made 151 from 298 balls, in six-and-a-half hours. Around those twin peaks, he scored five 50s.

Ravi Ashwin

62 wickets at 17.2

248 runs at 20.66

Another tight call, with the votes for the spinner’s spot split between Ashwin and the Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who took 49 at 23 in seven Tests. Both were brilliant in 2015 but Ashwin just squeezed in because of the ruthless way in which he humiliated South Africa, the World’s No1 team, during their recent series in India. He took 31 wickets in the four Tests, at an average of 11, the single biggest contribution to South Africa’s first series defeat overseas since they lost to Sri Lanka back in 2006. Outside of that, Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker during India’s series in Sri Lanka, with 21 at 18. Add it all up and in a six-month stretch he took 57 at an average of 14, which was 41% of all India’s wickets in that time. Oh, and his strike rate for the year was 36.4, which has never been bettered by a spinner.

Stuart Broad

55 wickets at 23.72*

353 runs at 20.76*

Broad, hands together over open mouth, eyes spread so wide in wonder that the whites were showing all around. This was the defining image of the English summer and one that will live on in the spectators’ minds long after other memories of the mediocre 2015 Ashes series have faded. At the age of 29, Broad enjoyed one of his very best Test years yet. Over the 12 months he began to emerge out of Jimmy Anderson’s shadow and came to be acknowledged, at last, as one of England’s greatest fast bowlers. His eight for 15 on the first morning at Trent Bridge will go down as one of the most famous spells in the history of the Ashes but he also bowled with impressive control and expert craft in the West Indies and the UAE either side of the English summer. He rediscovered his touch with the bat, too.

Jimmy Anderson

46 wickets at 22.65

A fourth Englishman, which perhaps looks a touch too parochial to readers around the rest of the world, given that England drew their series against West Indies and lost to Pakistan. But then, if they had 11 players like four in this team, they would be a fine side indeed. Besides, no one wanted to leave Anderson out because, like Broad, he has had one of his best years yet, even as his fitness is finally starting to flag. He overtook Ian Botham to become England’s leading wicket-taker back in April, and has shot on since, more than 400 and ahead of the likes of Curtly Ambrose, Shaun Pollock and Wasim Akram. He went wicketless for the first time in 60 matches when playing against Australia at Lord’s but turned the series England’s way when he took six wickets on the first day of the next Test at Edbgaston. Against Pakistan, he took 13 wickets at an average of 15 in three Tests, the finest figures ever achieved by a opposition fast bowler in the UAE.

Josh Hazlewood

51 wickets at 23.35

Last spot and another split vote. This would be Dale Steyn’s spot but he only played five Tests this year, so it became the hardest selection in the XI. In the end, Hazlewood just edged out his Australia team-mate Mitchell Starc and New Zealand’s Trent Boult, although they were both a little more lethal when on song. But where they blew hot and cold, Hazlewood stayed fairly steady throughout. He blazed his way through the West Indies in June, with 12 wickets at nine runs apiece in only two Tests. In England, he didn’t quite live up to the hype and yet he still managed to pick up wickets in every Test, and finished with 16 at 25 in his first Ashes series. In fact, he only went wicketless once all year, in the Boxing Day Test just gone.

*Figures do not include Broad’s performances in the third and fourth innings of the current Test against South Africa.

This is an extract taken from the Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, to subscribe just visit this page, find ‘The Spin’ and follow the instructions