Three players with most Test runs in 2019

The year is about to end and it is time to get ready for the next year, but before we talk about the year 2020 let’s have a look back at the year that went by. 2019 was a great year for all the cricket fans. We saw some fantastic matches, unbelievable performances and much more.

The year 2019 had it all. A team like England who had never won the World Cup finally won it, whereas a team like South Africa who was one of the better teams went on a downfall. Relevance was bought back to Test Cricket with the start of the World Test Championship.

Even the dead rubbers will be meaningful because there will be points up for grab. In the World Test Championship, up till now, we have seen some really good performances while some teams have put up a disappointing show. Many batsmen have come into their own and put-up top-class performances. It is time that we take note of these performances and so let’s have a look at three players with most Test runs in 2019.

3 Joe Root - England

Joe Root

Joe Root might have made the list of the top run-getters this year but to be honest he hasn’t had a great year with the bat. In fact, England as a team has struggled with the bat and their collapse in the first innings at Centurion summed up the year in Test cricket for them.

The only reason why Root makes this list is because of the amount of Tests England have played. Teams like India and New Zealand haven’t played that many games and that’s why no Indian or Kiwi makes the list.

Joe Root has scored 851 runs in 23 innings at an average of 37.00. You expect numbers with an average of over 50 from the England captain. He hit two hundreds out of which one of them was a double against New Zealand in away conditions. He struggled in the Ashes as he scored only 325 runs at an average of 32.5.

England is playing an important series in the context of the WTC and they will be hoping that their captain leads them from the front in 2020.

#2 Steve Smith - Australia

Steve Smith

Steve Smith has been so good that he has made the list even after starting late this year. His ban ended in March and he played his first Test after the ban in August. He started the Ashes series where he had left as he smashed two hundreds in the first Test match.

He made up for his absence in the third Test by scoring a double hundred in the fourth. He was just unstoppable in the English conditions where a lot of batsmen struggle. In seven innings in the Ashes, he scored 774 runs at a staggering average of 110.57. These numbers give an indication as to what Test cricket missed when Smith wasn’t there.

He didn’t have the best of summers as he failed to score a 50 against Pakistan. Even against New Zealand, he wasn’t at his best as he got out to the short ball on four occasions. Despite all this, he ended the year with 965 runs in 13 innings at an average of 74.23. He had the highest average among those who batted more than 10 innings. Smith would like to continue this form into the next year as Australia look to whitewash New Zealand.

#1 Marnus Labuschagne - Australia

Marnus Labuschagne

If anybody would have said that Marnus Labuschagne is going to be the leading run-scorer in Tests in 2019 at the start of the year, nobody would have believed him. He wasn’t even making the first XI of an Australian team but things changed when their best batsman Steve Smith got hit by a Jofra Archer bouncer.

Marnus was named Smith’s concussion replacement and he scored a gritty half-century in the second innings at Lord’s and helped Australia save that match. He went on to score three more half-centuries in the remaining games. In the Australian summer, he went a step forward and scored three centuries in three consecutive matches.

His consistency was unmatched as he became the first and the only player to score 1000+ runs in Test matches this year. He scored 1104 runs in 17 innings at an average of 64.91 with three centuries and seven half-centuries. With a great year, he has cemented his spot as Australia’s No.3 and now it is time for him to break a few more records in the year to come.