Root & Brook Nominated for ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year You Need to Know!

The year 2024 witnessed England batters Joe Root and Harry Brook smashing record-breaking numbers with their consistent form, making them shortlisted for the ICC’s Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year. The English teammates are certain to face vigorous challenges from other nominees in the list, featuring India’s best pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and Sri Lanka’s reliable middle order batter Kamindu Mendis for achieving exceptional milestones in their test cricket career. 

However, Root and Brook will compete with Bumrah in multiple categories, including the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year as well. Along with the nomination of Australia’s spearhead batter Travis Head, the competition becomes much more formidable. 

In addition, multiple categories for men’s and women’s cricket are being classified to determine the best ODI, T20I, and emerging cricketer of the year. 

A special panel of cricket analysts and broadcasters shortlisted the nominees from various nations based on their on-field performances and remarkable achievements at the international level throughout the year. At the end of January 2025, the ICC award winners will be declared officially. 

Before casting your vote for the test cricketer of the year on ICC’s official website, it would be intriguing to delve deeper into the memorable performances of these four players and their notable achievements in the previous year’s tests. 

Joe Root (ENGLAND): 

In 17 test matches, Joe Root accumulated 1,500-plus runs at an average of 55.57. He recorded his second-best run tally in a test cricket calendar, just 152 runs short of his previous record in 2021, including a staggering 1,708 runs in 29 innings. 

Here is an overview of Root’s stats out of 31 test innings played in 2024:

The 34-year-old’s stellar batting performance earned him reverence as the top run scorer of the year in tests. 

Having scored 6 tons in a year, Root became the joint fifth batter to notch the most centuries in the tests, tallying with the former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid’s record of 36 hundreds in this format. Also, he amassed 12,972 runs by overtaking former captain Alastair Cook’s top position as England’s leading run scorer in tests. 

Starting with his career-best 262-run memorable knock against Pakistan in Multan, these are Root’s best scores of the year 2024 in tests, accomplished against these opponent teams and tops the charts in Men’s ICC Test Batting Rankings: 

Harry Brook (ENGLAND): 

Hailed for his dynamic batting style, Harry Brook established his brand as a dominant performer in the modern era of Bazball cricket. 

Since his test debut in 2022, the right-handed batter for the first time compiled his first 1,000-plus annual run tally, and here is a glimpse of his stats in tests out of 20 innings in 2024:

The 25-year-old right-handed batter concluded the year 2024 on a positive note by ranking as the second leading run-scorer in the 3-match test series against New Zealand, amassing 350 runs in 5 innings. 

It is noteworthy to know that out of 1,100 runs scored in the year, 723 of them were accumulated in 6 matches outside the home despite playing the same number of games in England. 

However, Brook’s maiden triple century against Pakistan in the curtain raiser of the 3-match test series deserves special applause for steering his team to declare their innings at a mammoth total of 823-7 in 150 overs.    

Let’s take a closer look at Harry’s quickfire fifty-plus knocks throughout the year against these four teams that ignite the battle for supremacy to be crowned as the Test Cricketer of the Year:

Jasprit Bumrah (INDIA): 

After recovering from a back injury in 2023, India’s star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah topped the bowling charts, being the most prominent contributor for his team in 2024. 

Although playing just 13 matches in a calendar year, the 31-year-old bagged 907 points and leads the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings by shattering several records in 26 test innings, out of which a few iconic ones include: 

• Leading wicket-taker of the year in test cricket (71 wickets) 

• First bowler to achieve the 200th test wicket under an average of 20. 

• India’s dominant wicket-taker in tests against Australia (62 wickets). 

• And so on…

One of the main reasons Bumrah was shortlisted for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award was his leadership skills. He guided India to a massive 295-run victory in the Perth test during the absence of the team’s full-time captain, Rohit Sharma. His fast bowling skills in formidable conditions, such as in Australia or South Africa, define him as a strong contender for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award. 

These are Bumrah’s 5-fifer in 2024 against South Africa, England, and Australia in test matches: 

Kamindu Mendis (SRI LANKA): 

Ranked as the fifth-highest test run scorer of the year, Kamindu Mendis played 9 matches in 2024 and is one among those top six batters to accumulate 1,000-plus runs, averaging 74.92 in 16 innings: 

Also, in his 13th innings, the 26-year-old leveled the Australian legendary cricketer Don Bradman’s record by becoming the joint-third fastest to reach 1,000 runs in tests. 

Kamindu was top-run scorer in Sri Lanka’s clean 2-0 sweep against New Zealand, tallying 309 runs in 3 innings as a tribute to his back-to-back centuries in both matches of the home test series, highlighted with the career-best 182 run-knock. 

These greatest performances of Mendis both home and away boast his exceptional numbers in tests against New Zealand, Bangladesh, and England in the preceding year: