Picking the best Test 11 of 2023 ft. Ravindra Jadeja, Pat Cummins

Another cracking year of Test cricket has drawn to a close with both the Boxing Day Tests producing quick results in Centurion and Melbourne as hosts South Africa and Australia came up trumps over India and Pakistan, respectively.

While the focus was always going to be on ODIs in men's cricket for 2023 owing to the World Cup, Tests were always bound to stay relevant with the conclusion of a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle and the dawn of a new one.

India and Australia progressed to the final of the 2021-23 cycle with the Aussie coming out on top at The Oval in London. Australia had quite a busy year in the format having toured India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy before facing England in their backyard to retain the Ashes.

With the WTC turning every game into a near must-win contest, the emphasis on the game's oldest format remains as high as it has ever been. Looking back at the year gone by, there were a host of outstanding individual displays with the men in question capable of bragging to make it to the best playing XI of 2023.

We attempt to pick our own Test XI of the year and the reasons behind the same here:

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Openers: Usman Khawaja and Zak Crawley

If 2022 was a fabulous year for Usman Khawaja, he only took his game up by several notches in 2023. Continuing what has been a storied redemption in international cricket, he began the year with an unbeaten 195 against South Africa in Sydney post which he racked up runs in India and England to reiterate his versatility and ever-improving skill.

Khawaja ends the year as the only batter to have crossed the 1000-run barrier in Tests, finishing with 1210 runs at an average of 52.60. He scored six half-centuries and three centuries along the way with two of those hundreds coming in India and England.

Zak Crawley, meanwhile, repaid the faith shown in him by the England think-tank with a successful year in the format. He finished as the team's highest run-scorer in the Ashes as the hosts came back from a 2-0 deficit to draw the series with his attacking batting setting the tone early on.

Crawley compiled 606 runs in eight Tests at an average of 43.28 with three fifties and a majestic 189 in the fourth game of the Ashes to his name.

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Middle order: Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Travis Head

Joe Root's stellar purple patch in Test cricket extended into 2023 with a host of runs in New Zealand and a consistent display in the Ashes. He finished with 787 runs from eight matches at a sensational average of 65.58, scoring five fifties and two centuries along the way.

Root's teammate and fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook continued to show just why he's one of the next big things in the sport. His 176-ball 186 in Wellington was one of the best innings of the year while he stepped up with three consecutive fifties in as many Tests towards the second half of the Ashes when England were trailing the Australians.

Brook tallied 701 runs at an average of 53.92 and a strike rate of 91.51 an indicator of the aggressive 'Bazball' template that he has bought into. Apart from that century against the Blackcaps, he also whipped up six half-centuries.

Travis Head will want every calendar year to be like 2023 was. Apart from his World Cup heroics, he was stellar in Tests too as he proved a point after being excluded from the first Test in India with counter-attacking fifties at the top of the order.

He gave a peek into his big-game temperament with a blistering 163 that set the tone for Australia's triumph in the WTC final before carrying his solid run of form into the Ashes as well where he often stepped up with Australia's backs to the wall. He finished 2023 with 919 runs from 12 matches at an average of 41.77 with five fifties and a century to his credit.

Kane Williamson was very close to being selected in this XI having scored four tons in the year and scripted a famous last-ball chase against Sri Lanka in Christchurch. But it was a year of big scores and nothing on either side of it for the former Kiwi Test skipper due to which he has been pipped by the rest.

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All-rounder and wicketkeeper: Ravindra Jadeja, and Tom Blundell (wk)

Ravindra Jadeja is an all-time great Test player and there are no two ways about it. Apart from sharing the Player of the Series award with Ravichandran Ashwin for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was at his accurate best with the ball as he snagged 33 wickets from 7 matches at a spectacular average of 19.39 and a strike rate of 48.57.

He displayed excellent application with the bat on tough pitches at home and also scored a solid 48 in the WTC final under difficult circumstances. He tallied 281 runs at an average of 35.12 and was comfortably the standout all-rounder in the format in the year.

2023 was a tough year for wicket-keeper batters and it was hard to narrow it down to one option. New Zealand's Tom Blundell may have managed just one double-digit score in his last seven Test innings but he enjoyed a stellar first half, scoring runs in Pakistan as well as at home against a solid England attack.

He finishes the year with 433 runs at an average of 36.08 with three fifties and a hundred and his tidy wicketkeeping sees him don the same role in this playing XI.

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Bowlers: Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, and Stuart Broad

A stellar bowling lineup with a collective 1688 wickets comprise the frontline bowling attack. Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon often go toe-to-toe when it comes to picking a playing XI of the year and it was no different this time around either.

Lyon bagged 47 wickets at 24.95 apiece to top the charts for the year while his absence was tellingly felt post the second Ashes Test. But Ashwin's numbers were just too good for him to not make the cut - he finished with 41 wickets from seven matches at 17.02 apiece and a strike rate of 40.31, picking up four five-wicket hauls in the process.

Australia's fiery pace duo of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, and England veteran Stuart Broad constitute the pace attack. Cummins toiled away with one long spell upon another to cap off the year with 42 scalps at 27.50 apiece and a wicket every 45.73 deliveries.

His inspiring leadership saw the Aussies clinch the WTC mace as well as retain the Ashes and he walks into this XI as the captain. It is also important to mention Cummins' masterful unbeaten partnership of 55 with Lyon for the ninth wicket that saw Australia take the lead in the Ashes in a thriller in Birmingham.

Starc may have had an ordinary time in the WTC final while being left out of the first Ashes Test. But he bounced back in style post that to top the wicket-taking charts for the rubber, emerging as Australia's Player of the Series. He bagged 38 wickets from nine Tests in 2023, averaging 29.63 and taking just a shade under 40 deliveries to pick up a wicket.

Broad couldn't have asked for a better year than this to hang up his boots. With a host of wickets in New Zealand, a five-fer at Lord's against Ireland and consistently chipping away in the Ashes, he also breached the 600-wicket barrier before deciding that the Oval Test would be his swansong. Additionally, he also taught the world the importance of the bail-switch technique to conjure a wicket!

Thirty-eight wickets from eight matches at 26.28 apiece and a strike rate of 45.15 made it a memorable year for the seamer. It was as fairytale a finish as any as he picked up the last wicket in his final Test to secure a series draw in the Ashes, sending the crowd at The Oval into a rapturous ovation.

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Honorable mentions for Test XI of 2023

Kane Williamson (New Zealand): 695 runs in 7 matches at an average of 57.91 with four hundreds.

Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka): 608 runs in 6 matches at an average of 60.80, three fifties and two hundreds.

Mitchell Marsh (Australia): 540 runs in 5 matches at an average of 67.50; 4 wickets at 56.25 apiece.

Nathan Lyon (Australia): 47 wickets in 10 matches at 24.95 apiece, strike-rate of 51.08

Tim Southee (New Zealand): 24 wickets in 7 matches at 27.41 apiece, strike-rate of 63.20.

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Best Test XI of 2023: Usman Khawaja, Zak Crawley, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Travis Head, Ravindra Jadeja, Tom Blundell (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc and Stuart Broad.

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What would your best Test XI from 2023 read like? Have your say in the comments section below!

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