{"id":344581,"date":"2025-12-31T11:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/344581\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T11:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:43:07","slug":"temba-bavuma-mitchell-starc-virat-kohli-and-jemimah-rodrigues-headline-espncricinfos-teams-of-the-year-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/344581\/","title":{"rendered":"Temba Bavuma, Mitchell Starc, Virat Kohli and Jemimah Rodrigues headline ESPNcricinfo’s teams of the year for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you make it to a team of the year after playing only four games in the format you did best in? If those include winning your country’s first world title and a historic, near-unprecedented, clean sweep – with you leading your side and making telling contributions – why not? Temba Bavuma<\/a> leads ESPNcricinfo’s Test team of the year for 2025 following South Africa’s WTC title win, while his female counterpart – Laura Wolvaardt<\/a> – captains the women’s ODI team, which features four members of India’s World Cup-winning side.<\/p>\n

Men’s Test team of 2025: Travis Head, KL Rahul, Temba Bavuma (c), Shubman Gill, Joe Root, Alex Carey (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Marco Jansen, Mitchell Starc, Simon Harmer, Mohammed Siraj<\/p>\n

Graphic: 2025 Test XI\u00a0ESPNcricinfo Ltd<\/p>\n

Bavuma’s four outings included clutch second-innings half-centuries in the WTC final<\/a> and against India in Kolkata<\/a>. Simon Harmer<\/a>, like Bavuma, played only four Tests but claimed 30 wickets<\/a> to spin South Africa to wins in three of those games. Marco Jansen<\/a>‘s high impact was on full display in the series-clinching win in Guwahati<\/a> (93 and 6 for 48), and he takes the seam-bowling allrounder’s spot.<\/p>\n

That makes it three South Africans, but India – despite their overall results – are the most represented side: Shubman Gill<\/a> was the year’s leading run-getter<\/a>, while KL Rahul<\/a> and Ravindra Jadeja<\/a> also featured high up on the charts. Mohammed Siraj<\/a>‘s bursts of quality and quantity see him grab one of the specialist-seamer spots.<\/p>\n

Partnering Siraj in our side is the only man with more wickets than him in 2025<\/a>, and the only unanimous choice among our staff: Mitchell Starc<\/a>, who was the only bowler to take more than 50 Test wickets in the year.<\/p>\n

Travis Head<\/a> and Alex Carey<\/a> join Starc on the back of their Ashes exploits, with Head pushed to the top of the order. Joe Root<\/a> completes the batting line-up with his fifth straight appearance in our Test team of the year.<\/p>\n

Women’s ODI team of 2025: Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Ashleigh Gardner, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Fatima Sana, Alana King, Sophie Ecclestone<\/p>\n

Graphic: 2025 women’s ODI XI\u00a0ESPNcricinfo Ltd<\/p>\n

The women’s ODI World Cup was the marquee event of this calendar year, and seven of our XI come from the ranks of the two finalists, India and South Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The year’s top run-getters<\/a>, both with 1100-plus runs – Smriti Mandhana<\/a> and Laura Wolvaardt – are the openers, with Pratika Rawal (976) unfortunate to miss out. Giving Mandhana company are fellow World Cup winners Jemimah Rodrigues<\/a>, Richa Ghosh<\/a>, who takes the keeping gloves, and Deepti Sharma<\/a> – the Player of the World Cup, and the top wicket-taker of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marizanne Kapp<\/a> and Nadine de Klerk<\/a> are the other South Africans in the side; both contributed with bat and ball at the World Cup and through the year too.<\/p>\n

Bolstering the middle order is Ashleigh Gardner<\/a>, whose 530 runs (in ten innings) included two stellar hundreds at the World Cup<\/a>. Alana King<\/a> is the only other Australian in the XI. Gardner, King and Deepti will be accompanied by Sophie Ecclestone<\/a> in a strong spin bowling attack.<\/p>\n

Fatima Sana<\/a> becomes the first Pakistan player this decade to make it to any of our women’s teams of the year.<\/p>\n

Men’s ODI team of 2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Shai Hope (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Matt Henry, Jayden Seales<\/p>\n

Graphic: 2025 ODI XI\u00a0ESPNcricinfo Ltd<\/p>\n

Rohit Sharma<\/a> and Virat Kohli<\/a> represent India – winners of the Champions Trophy<\/a> – in our men’s ODI team of the year, with Rohit named captain after leading India to the title undefeated.<\/p>\n

Rohit and Matt Henry<\/a> – the year’s top wicket-taker<\/a> – were the only unanimous choices among the staffers, with Glenn Phillips<\/a> and Mitchell Santner<\/a> making it three entries for New Zealand, the Champions Trophy runners-up.<\/p>\n

England, too, have three players making the cut: Root, Adil Rashid<\/a> (joint-most wickets among spinners) and Jofra Archer<\/a> (18 wickets in nine outings).<\/p>\n

Jayden Seales<\/a> (27 wickets in 11 innings) votes from all but one of our staff, and with Shai Hope<\/a> the year’s best keeper-bat, West Indies get two players in the XI for the first time this decade.<\/p>\n

Rounding off our selection is South Africa’s Matthew Breetzke<\/a>, who is pushed up to the top amid a clutter of high-performing middle-order options.<\/p>\n

Men’s T20 team of 2025: Abhishek Sharma, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Nicholas Pooran (c), Dewald Brevis, Tim David, Sam Curran, Jason Holder, Noor Ahmad, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah<\/p>\n

Graphic: 2025 men’s T20 XI\u00a0ESPNcricinfo Ltd<\/p>\n

Abhishek Sharma<\/a> (1602 runs, SR 202) and Phil Salt<\/a> (1503 runs, SR 154.8) lit up most of the year, and they bat at the top for our men’s T20 team of 2025, followed by the ever-prolific Jos Buttler<\/a> and Nicholas Pooran<\/a> – both of whom also topped 1500 runs for the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buttler is the wicketkeeper, while Pooran, who led MI New York in their MLC title win, and Trinbago Knight Riders to the CPL title, captains the side.<\/p>\n

Dewald Brevis<\/a> and Tim David<\/a> – both with 1100-plus runs at a strike rate above 170 – bring muscle to the middle order. Sam Curran<\/a> and Jason Holder<\/a> (the leading wicket-taker of the year<\/a>) add depth as seam-bowling allrounders.<\/p>\n

The pace attack is led by Jasprit Bumrah<\/a>, whose 32 wickets came while conceding less than seven runs per over.<\/p>\n

Noor Ahmad<\/a> – the most prolific spinner in 2025 – and Varun Chakravarthy<\/a> (55 wickets in 35 innings) combine for a formidable spin duo to complete the bowling line-up.<\/p>\n

Women’s T20 team of 2025: Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney (wk), Hayley Matthews, Ellyse Perry, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Annabel Sutherland, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Bell<\/p>\n

Graphic: Women’s T20 XI 2025\u00a0ESPNcricinfo Ltd<\/p>\n

Our women’s T20 team of the year reads like an Ashes all-stars line-up – and quite like the Ashes, it is dominated by Australia: just three players are from England, and Hayley Matthews<\/a> is the sole inclusion from outside those two teams.<\/p>\n

Matthews slots in at No. 3 in a side boasting enviable depth. Openers Meg Lanning<\/a> and Beth Mooney<\/a> are the only non-bowlers, but they double up as captain and wicketkeeper, respectively.<\/p>\n

Ellyse Perry<\/a>, Nat Sciver-Brunt<\/a> and Annabel Sutherland<\/a> add to the all-round riches, forming the bulk of the pace attack that is led by Lauren Bell<\/a> – the only unanimous selection in this XI.<\/p>\n

The batting doesn’t end there: Grace Harris<\/a>, Jess Jonassen<\/a> and Georgia Wareham<\/a> lend further heft, with Jonassen and Wareham combining with Matthews and Ecclestone in a four-pronged spin attack.<\/p>\n

Player stats are current to December 23, 2025<\/p>\n

More in our look back at 2025<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can you make it to a team of the year after playing only four games in the format…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-344581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}