It has been another excellent year for the Australian cricket team. It began with victory in the Ashes against rivals England, and then series wins over New Zealand and the West Indies in limited-overs cricket.
Here is a look at who could end 2022 as Australia’s Cricketer of the Year.
Marnus Labuschagne
In 2021, Marnus Labuschagne was named in the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year. He is likely to be in that line-up again at the end of 2022, with some individual awards also likely to go his way too.
The 28-year-old, who has had a central contract with Cricket Australia since 2020, was the second-highest scorer in the last Ashes series with 335 runs. He averaged 41.87 in that series, with one century and two half-centuries going his way. His consistency across the five Tests was of the reasons the hosts were able to have success.
Labuschagne is now second in the ICC Test batting rankings behind Joe Root. With a strong end to 2022, he could leapfrog the former England captain in those standings. As you can read in the Reuters match report, one of his best innings this year came in Galle in a Test match against Sri Lanka. He scored 104 runs in what was the seventh Test century of his career.
Pat Cummins
Since taking on the captaincy in Test cricket, Pat Cummins has led by example in red-ball cricket. The 29-year-old was the leading wicket-taker in the Ashes with 21 wickets. He also had an economy of just 3.01 in that series.
Cummins was a key player for Australia in their tour of Pakistan earlier this year. He ended that three-match Test series with the joint-most wickets. The right-arm fast bowler was tied with Nathan Lyon with 12 wickets, which included a five-wicket haul in the first innings of the deciding Test.
The number one bowler in the ICC Test rankings is now also the ODI captain of Australia. The Baggy Greens have overcome scandals in recent years, and now there is a lot of pride in the values the team have under Cummins’ leadership.
As the Daily Mail reported, the all-rounder showed in the IPL in 2022 that he is also capable of scoring fast runs with the bat, as he matched the record for the fastest half-century in the competition’s history, getting to the landmark in just 16 balls. His run-scoring has also improved for his country this year.
Josh Hazlewood
Experienced bowler Josh Hazlewood is highly ranked in all three formats of the sport in international cricket. He has had a busy year for his country and in various franchise leagues around the world where his performances have been consistently good.
Hazlewood has had a lot of success against Sri Lanka in 2022, in the home T20 series and the tour of the country. He was the Man of the March in the second T20I at the SCG. The seamer was asked to bowl the Super Over in that contest and he limited the opposition to just five runs with six impressive deliveries.
The 31-year-old will be hoping to help his country to reach T20 World Cup success on home soil this year. As of the 3rd of November, Australia is 10/1 in the ICC T20 World Cup odds for the trophy. Hazlewood is part of a strong Australian bowling attack on pitches they are very familiar with.
Just like the Cricket World Cup in 2015, this year’s T20 competition will not only be a big boost for the Australian economy, but it will bring the whole country behind the team in their bid for success and some cricket betting for fun will increase the support and hype.
Aaron Finch
As per the BBC report, Aaron Finch retired from ODI cricket back in September following a series against New Zealand. The opening batsman is one of Australia’s greatest-ever white ball players and he has shown that in his final year in the 50 overs game.
Finch is going to continue playing T20 cricket for his country and the form he is in suggests that could be for a long while yet. The Kolkata Knights Riders and Melbourne Renegades player has a wealth of experience in this format of the game, and he continues to score runs at an impressive strike rate.
Australia’s leading T20I run-scorer will be hoping to lead his country to T20 World Cup success for the second straight year. If he can create the same heavy-scoring opening partnership with David Warner, as he often has throughout his international career, they will be in with a great chance of defending their trophy.
The Baggy Greens end 2022 with home Test matches against the West Indies and South Africa. The latter is third in the ICC Test rankings and is expected to be a strong challenger to the home side.
