Picking a World Best XI from Test Cricket in 2014
With 2014 now over, it is time to review the action in the Test arena and pick our team of the year.
There were many, many standout performers who deserved recognition for their efforts in the longest form of the game. Sadly, though, there are only 11 places available.
So, before you click on and reveal the lucky few who made the cut, some words to console those who did not quite make it.
Mahela Jayawardene scored more than 1,000 runs but was unable to force his way into the middle order. Kane Williamson and Misbah-ul-Haq were also squeezed out, despite managing four centuries apiece.
Joe Root had a stunning Test average of 97.12 but played in only seven matches as England focused more on one-day cricket.
Murali Vijay would have been the other opening batsman, but a wicketkeeper needed to be selected. While both Kumar Sangakkara and Brendon McCullum have donned the gloves before, neither has done so regularly in Test action over the past 12 months.
McCullum has been listed as an opener in the side, partly to create space but also because it is a position he filled for New Zealand during their series against Pakistan.
Picking the bowlers was a little more straightforward in truth, though both Ishant Sharma and Trent Boult deserve a mention. Kemar Roach would have been a strong candidate had injury not cut short his year.
Don't agree with the final line-up? Have your say by using the comments section.
All statistics are provided by ESPN Cricinfo and Howstat.com.
David Warner (Australia)
1 of 11
David Warner made more than 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year for the first time in his career in 2014.
Australia's hard-hitting opening batsman crashed six centuries during that time, three of which came on a successful tour of South Africa.
He made 135 and 145 in his two innings in the final Test at Newlands, helping Australia clinch victory in not only the match but also the series. He finished up averaging of 90.50 on the Test leg of the tour.
Warner achieved the feat of centuries in both innings again later in the year, this time against India at the Adelaide Oval in what was Australia's first outing since the death of Phillip Hughes.
Runs: 1,136
Average: 63.11
Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
2 of 11
Talk about leading from the front: New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum was an inspiration for his side with the bat in 2014.
For the first time in his career, he made more than 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year. He scored 302 of them in one innings, becoming the first Kiwi to hit a triple century when he held India at bay in Wellington.
In the previous match against the same opponents, he had made 224 at Eden Park, while he registered another double century (this time 202) against Pakistan later in the year.
Not content with his efforts, McCullum rounded out the year with 195 from just 134 balls in the first match of the home series against Sri Lanka. Astonishingly, that was his lowest three-figure score during the year.
Runs: 1,164
Average: 72.75
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
3 of 11
No batsman scored more runs in either Test or one-day cricket in 2014 than the evergreen Kumar Sangakkara.
Sri Lanka's lynchpin at three in the order, the left-hander amassed 1,438 runs in the longest format. It made it the best year of a stellar Test career that started back in 2000.
Sangakkara hit a triple hundred against Bangladesh in Chittagong, a double hundred against Pakistan in Galle and also got his name on the Lord's honours board on the tour of England, hitting 147 at the home of cricket.
He hasn't started 2015 too badly, either. In the second Test of the tour to New Zealand, he made 203 out of his team's total of 356.
Runs: 1,438
Average: 71.90
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Younis Khan (Pakistan)
4 of 11
Another veteran performer who shows no sign of slowing down with age, Younis Khan scored more than 1,000 runs in Test action for Pakistan for the first time since 2006.
The 37-year-old had a particular fondness for Australian bowling in 2014—in the two-match series, he made scores of 106, 103 not out, 213 and, rather disappointingly to finish, 46.
There were three other centuries during a run-filled year, two of them against Sri Lanka. His form was so good that he earned him a recall to Pakistan's one-day squad in time for the World Cup (h/t ESPN Cricinfo).
Younis will have a landmark in his sights in 2015—he currently sits third on Pakistan's all-time list of Test run scorers, just 505 behind the current record holder, Javed Miandad.
Runs: 1,064
Average: 66.50
Steve Smith (Australia)
5 of 11
Steve Smith hit five centuries in 17 innings in 2014, an impressive achievement considering he had made just two in his previous 16 Test appearances.
The Australia batsman started the year as he meant to go on, making 115 in the fifth and final Ashes Test against England in Sydney.
He managed an even 100 on the tour of South Africa, but it wasn't until he returned home to face India that the runs really began to flow for the 25-year-old from Sydney.
In the first Test, he made 162 not out, followed by 133 in the next match after taking over the captaincy. However, he saved his best for last, smashing 192 in Melbourne to round out the year in style.
Runs: 1,146
Average: 81.86
Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka)
6 of 11
It might come as something of a surprise to learn that Angelo Mathews was second on the list of leading Test run scorers in 2014.
The all-rounder hit three hundreds and eight half-centuries over the course of a busy year leading his country. Although his bowling wasn't quite as productive, he did pick up career-best figures (4-44).
His first three-figure score arrived early in the year, as he made 157 not out to help save a Test against Pakistan that had actually started on December 30, 2013.
He made 102 against England at Lord's in June, then followed that up with a sensational 160 in the next Test at Headingley. It was an innings that laid the platform for Sri Lanka to win not just the match but also the series.
Runs: 1,160
Average: 77.33
Wickets: 10
Average: 35.30
Sarfraz Ahmed (Pakistan)
7 of 11
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed confirmed himself as Pakistan's first choice behind the stumps in 2014.
The 27-year-old had experienced Test cricket before the year; he made his debut in 2010, against Australia in Hobart, and then played all three matches in the series in South Africa in 2013.
An injury to Adnan Akmal opened the door for him to return, and he seized the opportunity with both hands. He became the first Pakistan gloveman to hit a century in Test cricket since 2009, per S Rajesh of ESPN Cricinfo, when he made 103 against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Sarfraz added two more hundreds before the year was out, both of them in Dubai. He hit 109 against Australia in October, then helped himself to 112 against New Zealand the following month.
Runs: 743
Average: 67.55
Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
8 of 11
Mitchell Johnson may not have had the home series he wanted against India at the end of 2014, but he still finished the year with 47 wickets.
The left-arm paceman was a spearhead for his country in the series victory in South Africa, including claiming 12 wickets in the first Test at SuperSport Park as Australia crushed their hosts.
He claimed eight more in the third Test, and although conditions were less to his liking in the United Arab Emirates, Johnson was still extremely economical against a Pakistan team who plundered plenty of runs.
The 33-year-old found wickets even harder to come by back on Australian soil against India. He did, however, cause the tourists problems with the bat, belting 88 off 93 balls in the second Test in Brisbane.
Wickets: 47
Average: 23.08
Dale Steyn (South Africa)
9 of 11
It is only right that Dale Steyn gets into any world XI these days. While he only played in eight Tests in 2014, the South Africa seamer still claimed an impressive haul of 39 wickets.
He had a strike rate of 37.6 and ended the year on top of the ICC bowling rankings once again, a position he has become all-too familiar with since reaching the summit in 2008.
Steyn claimed 12 wickets in the home series with Australia but went one better on the tour of Sri Lanka that followed, his 13 victims coming at an average of 17.46.
He then ended the year by decimating the West Indies at SuperSport Park, needing just 8.2 overs to take 6-34 and see his side to an innings victory in the series opener.
Wickets: 39
Average: 19.56
Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)
10 of 11
No bowler got through more work in Test cricket in 2014 than Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath.
The left-armer sent down more than 600 overs in his 10 appearances (the next highest was Nathan Lyon with 404) and was rewarded with 60 wickets, meaning he finished the year on top of the pile.
Herath recorded a career-best 9-127 in the first innings of the second Test against Pakistan, then picked up five more second time around to give him astonishing match figures of 14-184 in Colombo.
The 36-year-old—who made his Test debut back in 1999—finished the two-match series with 23 wickets in total, exactly the same amount of runs he scored in three innings against Pakistan.
Wickets: 60
Average: 27.45
James Anderson (England)
11 of 11
England's talisman with the ball, James Anderson bounced back from a tough Ashes tour to Australia with 40 wickets in eight Tests in 2014.
The Lancastrian spent the majority of his summer tormenting India's batsmen, taking 25 wickets in the five-match series at a cost of 20.60.
Anderson is now within touching distance of overtaking Sir Ian Botham for top spot in the list of all-time wicket-takers in Test cricket for England. He could well achieve the feat in his 100th appearance, a milestone he will reach the next time he steps out on to the field in whites for his country.
It was not just a good year with the ball. The 32-year-old also recorded a Test best score of 81 against India at Trent Bridge, helping put on a new record stand for the last wicket of 198.
Wickets: 40
Average: 22.15
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