Pick your WTC Team of the Tournament: By the numbers
DUBAI (ICC) - Seven days out from the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final and the polls are open – Get your votes in for the Team of the Tournament.
Here are to pick your XI but before you do, here are some numbers that might help.
Step ☝️ Head to the link below
Step ✌️ Pick your #WTC21 Team of the Tournament
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TOP RUN-SCORER
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne is the top run-scorer, with 1675 across his 13 matches in the tournament. Quite the feat for a player who was on the fringes of Australia’s national set-up before the tournament started. No wonder he now sits third on the ICC Test batting rankings.
The next highest run-scorer in the campaign is England skipper Joe Root, who made 1660 across 20 matches. He made serious runs at the backend of the tournament, making 684 runs across three Tests.
Rounding out the podium is Steve Smith, who made 1341 runs across 13 matches. The Australian maestro led the way in the early stages of the tournament, making 774 across four Ashes encounters in 2019.
MOST CENTURIES
Labuschagne also stands as the tournament’s top century-maker, making five in the campaign alongside nine further 50+ scores. The Australian’s first ton came against Pakistan in November 2019 and he went on to score three in a row and four in total for the summer. The fifth ton came in this year’s Gabba thriller against India.
Labuschagne is trailed by five players – Babar Azam, Dimuth Karunaratne, Rohit Sharma, Smith and Ben Stokes – on four centuries, with Sharma still able to catch him with a successful match in the World Test Championship final.
There have been 92 centuries so far in the tournament.
MOST WICKETS
Australia quick Pat Cummins sits on top of the WTC wicket-takers list going into the final with 70 across 14 matches at just 21.02 runs apiece. Sitting atop the ICC Test bowling rankings, Cummins’ wickets came throughout the tournament, taking 29 in the Ashes to begin his campaign and 21 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to round it out.
Cummins is trailed by England’ Stuart Broad, who took 69 at 20.08 across 17 Tests, with 10 of those wickets coming in a Test against the West Indies last July.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin sits third with 67 at 20.88 and will be hoping to leapfrog Cummins in the decider.
MOST FIVE-FORS
Four bowlers sit atop the list for the most five-wicket hauls, with three in contention to take an outright lead during the final at Southampton.
India’s Ashwin and Axar Patel, New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson and Australia’s Nathan Lyon have all taken four five-wicket hauls in the tournament.
Ashwin and Lyon’s set of five-fors came across 13 and 14 Tests respectively, while Jamieson’s were spread across just six matches and Patel’s just three.
HIGHEST SCORE
Going into the final, and the cycle’s last bilateral series between the West Indies and South Africa, the WTC has seen one triple-century. That was scored by Australia’s David Warner, who made an unbeaten 335 against Pakistan in a day-nighter at Adelaide Oval in 2019.
The next highest score of the cycle belongs to England’s Zak Crawley, who scored 267 against Pakistan at Southampton last August.
India skipper Virat Kohli made the third highest score, notching an unbeaten 254 against South Africa at Pune in October 2019.
In total there were 14 200+ scores in the tournament.
BEST FIGURES
Sri Lanka’s Lasith Embuldeniya boasts the best figures of the tournament so far. The left-arm spinner took one five-for in the campaign but made it count, taking 7/137 against England earlier this year.
India’s Ashwin is the only other bowler to have taken seven in an innings so far, claiming 7/145 in his first match of the tournament against South Africa in 2019.
Teammate Jasprit Bumrah rounds out the top three, courtesy of his 6/27 against the West Indies in 2019.
BEST BATTING AVERAGE
Among batters who have played at least five innings, Australia’s Labuschagne has the best average. He averaged 72.82 across his 23 innings. Without the qualifier of five innings, he would still be second, sandwiched between New Zealand’s Darryl Mitchell (76.50 across three innings) and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (68, one innings).
Among batters who have played at least five innings, Pakistan’s Babar Azam had the next best average (66.57 across 17 innings), with India’s Washington Sundar (66.25 across six innings) a close third.
BEST BOWLING AVERAGE
Indian newcomer Patel boasts the best average of any bowler used in at least five innings in the WTC, with his 27 wickets coming at 10.59 across six innings.
New Zealand’s Jamieson sits second in this department, with his 36 poles coming at 13.27 across 12 innings. India’s Ishant Sharma (55 at 17.36 across 20 innings) sits third.
MOST DISMISSALS COMPLETED
Australia captain Tim Paine completed the most dismissals of any keeper in the tournament, with his 65 unlikely to be bettered in the remaining time in the cycle.
England’s Jos Buttler sits a distant second with 50, with South Africa’s Quinton de Kock – currently playing a WTC series against the West Indies – boasting 46 currently.
