Tests in 2019, Standout player, biggest takeaway, best team – Marnus Labuschagne, Stokes’ Headingley heist, and the World Test Championship

A whole year has gone by in a flash. It’s a day away from 2020, and it was a pivotal one for Test cricket. It’s time to look back at the big talking points.

Standout player – Marnus Labuschagne

There are a few contenders for this award, if you will, but Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne was easily the standout. The 25-year-old made his debut late in 2018, but it was in August this year that his career really took off, after Steve Smith was struck on the head by Jofra Archer. Labuschagne scored a fine half-century, filling in as cricket’s first concussion substitute, and since then, he’s racked up 975 runs in eight matches, at a stunning average of 75, including three centuries. In August, he was 98 on ICC Test batsmen’s rankings. He ends the year at No.4. Talk about having a good year.

Standout moment – England’s Headingly heist

This will go down in history as one of the all-time great Test matches. Ben Stokes will go down as one of the greatest England all-rounder, on par, if not better, than Botham, Flintoff and the lot. And rightly so. England secured a thrilling one-wicket victory to keep their Ashes hopes alive in Leeds, thanks to Stokes’ brilliant 135, which included mainly a 76-run stand for the final wicket with Jack Leach. Leach contributed an extremely crucial run in that partnership, and the scenes that followed after Stokes crashed the winning runs was everything that was right about cricket.  

Room for improvement – The World Test Championship points system

The year witnessed the inaugural ICC World Test Championship being introduced in August, with the Ashes. And since then, it’s been met with mixed reactions – a lot of positives, but a few negatives as well. It’s the first edition of the tournament, and no doubt things will get better as it progresses, but the chief concern about it revolves around the points system, which rewards series wins more than match wins. A two-match series is weighted 120 points, the same as a five-match series, meaning each win in a two-match series gains the winner 60 points, while in a five-match series, it’s just 24.

That’s caused a seemingly unequal points table. At the end of the year, India lead the table with 360 points, winning all their seven matches and three series. Australia, who have won one lesser, are 104 points behind at second place. It’s confusing to many, to say the least, and while the ICC had the right intentions, the fact that the PCT is the differentiating factor remains unknown to most fans.

Something for the governing body to consider ahead of the next edition in 2021.  

Standout quote – “You cannot do that Ben Stokes …”Former England captain and commentator

Nasser Hussain displaying typical English understatement after Stokes’ epic in Headingley.