Ahead of New Zealand's Test series against Pakistan, The Cricketer considers who would walk into a combined XI made up of the two sides...
A cricketer who has grown immensely with age and responsibility, Shan Masood feels like a future Pakistan captain.
A much-improved opening batsman outside subcontinental conditions from the tentative left-hander who first emerged on the international stage, he will have an enormous role to play in staving off the threat of New Zealand’s feted new-ball attack.
Another who, like Masood, has grown with age. Captain in Kane Williamson’s absence against West Indies, he has perhaps gone under the radar in the past. Few openers in the modern game average upwards of 40, but Latham is one of them.
In his worst year of Test cricket, he still scored two hundreds. This would be his first year without a century if he cannot find one against Pakistan’s tremendous set of seamers.
Only three Tests so far this year for Kane Williamson, a bona fide great of the modern era. He comes into this series on the back of a double hundred against West Indies and the birth of his child.
Rarely could the Blackcaps’ classy skipper have felt better about life than now. In 39 Tests on home soil, he averages 61.81.
Shan Masood made a tremendous century against England at Emirates Old Trafford in the summer
Azhar Ali’s unbeaten hundred against England at the Ageas Bowl during the summer had all the hallmarks of a world-class player. In many ways, there were shades of Alastair Cook’s century against Pakistan at The Oval a decade ago.
There Azhar was, an embattled captain losing faith in his own technique and in no kind of form, facing the challenge of saving his career. But then, as only the greats can, he snapped himself out of it. This is his first Test since – and without the captaincy as well.
Babar Azam will miss the first Test of this upcoming series with a fractured thumb suffered in training ahead of the preceding T20Is.
How he fares on his return will be fascinating. It is little secret that the new Test skipper is one of the globe’s finest, most elegant players. New Zealand will have him in their sights.
An underrated member of New Zealand’s middle order, but certainly not undervalued by his teammates.
He sits 12th in the ICC’s batting rankings and made his highest Test score in last game against West Indies, guiding his side from 78 for 3 to a final total of 460. He edges out Ross Taylor in this composite XI.
Henry Nicholls made a career-best 174 against West Indies in their recent Test series
A tough one, but only because of the quality of Mohammad Rizwan. Ultimately, however, BJ Watling has been routinely world-class for a longer period of time.
A tremendous cricketer of grit, resilience and no little ability, he has been light on runs this year but will surely come good before long.
Selecting this bowling attack was both treat and tragedy. Nominally, Tim Southee edges out the fabulously precocious Naseem Shah, on nothing more than his ICC ranking.
Southee’s longevity as a high-class seamer is no secret; he is just four wickets away from 300 in Test cricket. His reward? Fourth place on the ICC’s current list, behind only Pat Cummins, Stuart Broad and teammate Neil Wagner.
And onto Wagner, the enforcer but also much more than that. The left-armer is a highly-skilled operator – as much mentally as physically. At 34 years of age, he continues to bound to the crease, his bouncer as effective as ever and his capacity to swing the ball improving too.
A haul of 215 Test wickets in 50 Tests – 146 of those taken in New Zealand, where overseas seamers have often struggled for potency – is a remarkable effort.
There are few bowlers more intelligent than Mohammad Abbas
One of two left-arm seamers in this entirely hypothetical side, alongside Wagner. There was no space for a third, meaning the difficult call to leave out Shaheen Shah Afridi, whose white-ball success is yet to be fully replicated across five days.
Like Southee and Wagner, Boult has proven his class over time in a terrific New Zealand bowling attack. He is just 24 wickets behind Southee and 28 from joining the 300 club. When he arrives there, it will have been well earned. There are few better sights than his inswinger thudding into the front pad of a right-handed batsman.
An absolute wizard.
Perhaps the most watchable seamer in the game at the moment, simplicity is his key. One of the Test arena’s slower seamers but most certainly among its most skilful. How he fares bowling on New Zealand pitches for the first time will be fascinating.
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