Best XI across all formats in 2019

4. Steve Smith

Like David Warner, the emotions were very similar for Steve Smith when he returned to international cricket after he served the 12-month ban. It was only in June that he made a comeback and it was through the World Cup. While he didn’t have a standout tournament, he was Australia’s crisis man and scored four fifties in the mega event.

However, when the Ashes started, he took his batting on another level. Test cricket was always his preferred format but he dominated England like never before. They were sick and tired of him and just couldn’t find a way to get past him. Smith scored a staggering 774 runs from four Tests and helped Australia retain the urn. He may not have scored big in the home Tests but still is second on the list of leading run-getters in Test cricket.

Smith even fared well in the shortest format. He played six games but batted in just three innings. But he made the most of those as well. He scored 146 runs and was out just once. The Australian run-machine is not even in the top 10 run-scorers in 2019 across formats but the impact he had was simply phenomenal.