Best Test XI of 2019

7. BJ Watling [wk]

No matter how many runs he scores or the number of hundreds he churns out or the number of dismissals he affects with his wicketkeeping gloves, BJ Watling still manages to stay under the carpet, whenever there are talks about the leading wicketkeeping batsmen in Test cricket.

No designated wicketkeeper-batsman has scored more runs [3195 in 88 innings] and at a better average [42.60 including seven tons and 17 half-centuries] in this decade than BJ Watling. Yet, if you look at the best XI of the decade in Test cricket, rarely you’d find his name in the celebrated list. Yet, Watling is unfazed by it. All he knows is to score runs, take catches and contribute to the team. And, he did that with disdain in 2019. In six Tests this year, the New Zealand wicket-keeper scored 575 runs at an average of 52.27 with four half-centuries and two hundred.

Best Innings- 205 off 473 balls vs England, Bay Oval

It has got to be the double-hundred that he scored against the likes of Archer and co, one that not only grounded the English bowlers into the dust but also paved for an innings win for the home side.

Chasing England’s first innings total of 353, New Zealand needed to score big, if they were to harbor any thoughts of winning the Test match, butat 6-316, that looked unlikely! Enter BJ Watling and Mitchell Santner. No wicket would fall for the next 83.2 overs, as the duo accumulated 261 runs for the seventh wicket to completely bat the visitors out of the game. Watling scored a pristine 205 off 473 balls as the Kiwis plundered a Brobdingnagian total of 9-615 declared.