The men’s Test cricket team of the year: from Atkinson to Jaiswal
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Our special board of selectors announce the picks for the best men’s Test XI of the past 12 months. Go fetch a cup of tea and your best arguments, it’s time for the Guardian’s 10th annual men’s Test XI of the Year. This year’s selection panel included Vic Marks, Ali Martin, Emma John, Rob Smyth, Jonathan Liew, Adam Collins, Geoff Lemon, Daniel Gallan, Tim de Lisle, Taha Hashim, Tanya Aldred, Jim Wallace, and myself, Andy Bull. It’s been an intriguing 12 months, in which every team was able to beat someone but no team was able to beat everyone, and at the end of it, everyone picked their own XI and, when we added up the votes, this is how it all came out (and yes, we were surprised so many Englishmen ended up in it, too) ….
![[Andy Bull]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Andy-Bull,-L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
14 matches, 1,312 runs at 52. Votes: 13 out of 13. Over the course of England’s tour of India Jaiswal established himself as one of the brightest batters of the next generation of Test cricketers, a point he proved when he ended the year by taking 161 off Australia in Perth. It wasn’t just the number of runs he scored, although they came by the hundred-weight, with back-to-back double centuries in Vizag and Rajkot, it was the irresistible ferocity of his batting. Jaiswal hit more sixes in the past 12 months of Test cricket than Virat Kohli has in 12 years of it. He was the only unanimous pick in this team.
![[Yashasvi Jaiswal of India celebrates after scoring century during day three of the First Test match in the series between Australia and India at Perth Stadium]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/545800607dcd6e074f6bf8b2412b8795a7ff33af/0_130_4503_2702/master/4503.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
16 matches, 1,065 at 35. Votes: 10. It was a rough 12 months for opening batters right around the world, and Duckett, as the former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle says, is a faute de mieux selection. Aside from Jaiswal, he was the only opener to make 1,000 runs in the year, or even get close to it. He scored two dashing centuries in games England lost, against India in Rajkot and Pakistan in Multan, and established himself as a senior member of the team, but his slightly flibbertigibbet habit of getting out without going on meant he finished the year with a middling average.
![[England batsman Ben Duckett hits out for six]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1d5747bb5ce8896a835875e0a14171625d74b2c4/0_159_4241_2547/master/4241.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
