MUMBAI, India – England's Alastair Cook and India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni have been named captains of this year's Test and ODI teams announced by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday.
The 12-member Test team has four players from South Africa, including pace bowler Dale Steyn, who was named in the side for a sixth consecutive year. England and India both have three players on the squad, while Australia has two.
The ODI side has players from seven different nations, including three Sri Lankans and three Indians.
The teams were chosen by a panel chaired by former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble after reviewing player performance over a one-year period from August 2012-2013. Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, former England captain Alec Stewart, former South Africa batsman Graeme Pollock and former New Zealand women's player Catherine Campbell were the other members of the panel.
“The selection panel had a lengthy debate on all the top performers during the performance period and a number of combinations were considered,” Kumble said in a statement. “The selectors did utilize a vast amount of statistics from the period under observation, but we also took into account other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation and the like.”
“But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out,” Kumble added.
ICC Test team:
Alastair Cook (England, captain), Cheteshwar Pujara (India), Hashim Amla (South Africa), Michael Clarke (Australia), Michael Hussey (Australia), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, wicketkeeper), Graeme Swann (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa), James Anderson (England), Vernon Philander (South Africa); 12th Man: Ravichandran Ashwin (India).
ICC ODI team:
Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Shikhar Dhawan (India), Hashim Amla (South Africa), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, captain and wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja (India), Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan), Mitchell Starc (Australia), James Anderson (England), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka); 12th Man: Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand). – Sapa-AP