DUBAI: England’s Test captain Ben Stokes has been named ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year for 2022.
Stokes, who had a formidable year in the longest format captaining his side to nine victories from 10 matches since he took the job in mid-2022, overshadowed other competitors on the list to win the coveted award.
“One player defined the year of Test cricket more than any other in 2022 and is the clear and deserving winner of the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year” said ICC in a media release on Thursday.
Having a tough contest with his compatriot Jonny Bairstow, Australia’s red-ball run machine Usman Khawaja and South Africa’s fierce pacer Kagiso Rabada, Stokes stood out owing to his meteoric rise as the saviour of English Test side and a modern-day attacking approach – often dubbed as Bazball – that he injected into the oldest format of the game with help of head coach Brendon McCullum.
Besides an awe-inspiring journey as a team leader, the all-rounder accumulated 870 runs, averaging 36.25 and took 26 wickets at an average of 31.19 during last year. He notched up two centuries as well in this period.
“On the basis of his numbers alone, England’s talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes had an excellent year in the whites of international Test cricket,” said ICC’s media release.
“Since taking over as England captain, Stokes has led the team to nine wins from 10 Tests, completing series victories over New Zealand and South Africa at home, beating India in the one-off postponed Test to level the series at 2-2, and hammering Pakistan 3-0 away from home – England’s best ever margin of victory in the country.”
“Prior to his appointment as captain, England had been beaten in each of their four most recent completed series and had won just one of their previous 17 Tests.”
It is pertinent to mention that Stokes was also named captain of the ICC Test Team of the Year, announced earlier on Tuesday.
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