Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
WERE Hashim Amla not the selfless man he is, his nose might have been put out of joint by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) announcement on Wednesday of the test and one-day teams of the year.
The ICC’s own rankings put Amla at No. 5 among test batsmen and at No. 2 on the ODI list. However, his name was nowhere to be found in the XIs named on Wednesday.
Moreover, SA - the No. 1 test team - have not merited a single nomination for “Test Cricketer of the Year”, whose name will be revealed at the ICC awards ceremony on November 15.
But AB de Villiers is in the running to be named “Cricketer of the Year”. Mitchell Johnson, Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara are his rivals.
SA dominate the nominations for “ODI Cricketer of the Year” with Quinton de Kock, De Villiers and Dale Steyn filling three of the four places. The other is held by Virat Kohli.
Steyn has made the test side for a record seventh successive time, while De Villiers has won his fifth selection.
De Villiers has cracked the nod for the fourth time in the one-day side, which also features Steyn and De Kock.
An explanation for Amla’s omission from the test side is that, in the 16 innings he has had in the relevant period - from August 26 last year to September 17 this year - he has scored just 630 runs.
Twenty-four other players have more runs to their names than that, albeit that 16 of them have had more innings than the SA test captain.
In ODI terms, Amla is eighth with 946 runs from 19 innings. But all of the men ahead of him have had more innings - as have five of the six players behind him.
De Kock, by contrast, is second only to Virat Kohli among ODI runscorers. The South African is 55 runs behind the Indian - who has had two more innings. The four players who follow De Kock in the pecking order have all batted more times than he has.
All that said, the ICC issued a disclaimer along with their teams: “Statistics were available as a guide but were not necessarily the overwhelming factor in the choices made.”
The selection panel was chaired by Anil Kumble, and included Russel Arnold, Stephen Fleming, Betty Timmer - a former chair of the ICC women’s committee - and broadcaster Jonathan Agnew.
ICC Test Team of the Year (in batting order): David Warner (Aus), Kane Williamson (NZ), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), AB de Villiers (SA), Joe Root (Eng), Angelo Mathews (SL, capt), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Stuart Broad (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA), Rangana Herath (SL), Tim Southee (NZ). 12th-man: Ross Taylor (NZ).
ICC ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Mohammad Hafeez (Pak), Quinton de Kock (SA), Virat Kohli (Ind), George Bailey (Aus), AB de Villiers (SA), MS Dhoni (Ind, capt), Dwayne Bravo (WI), James Faulkner (Aus), Dale Steyn (SA), Mohammad Shami (Ind), Ajantha Mendis (SL). 12th-man: Rohit Sharma (Ind).
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