After an engaging week of cricket across formats, we have four teams battling it out in two marquee Test matches in Australia and South Africa respectively, starting Boxing Day (December 26) this week. For Nostragamus fantasy managers, this will be a tricky week with Test matches being the focus.
AIDEN MARKRAM
Country: South Africa
Match/Series: South Africa vs England, Tests
Sure we know Aiden Markram is out of form. Sure we know he had a torrid time in India. But it's a home Test match for the Proteas and it's impossible to leave someone like Markram out. The opener has 1318 runs in 15 home Test matches since 2017 at an average of 48.81, the most runs by any South African at home in this time frame. With four hundreds and six fifties too, Markram is a great pick for this series despite his recent poor form away from home.
BEN STOKES
Country: England
Match/Series: South Africa vs England, Tests
Ben Stokes isn't just the in-form England batsman but also someone with an outstanding record in South Africa. Averaging 50+ and striking at over 100 in Test cricket in the Rainbow Nation, Stokes shot to limelight in his last tour with a blistering double hundred. As England get set to play the Boxing Day Test, Stokes will be a key player in their plans. His bowling abilities might also be banked upon more with England's premier pacers just coming out of a stomach bug.
BJ WATLING
Country: New Zealand
Match/Series: Australia v New Zealand, 2nd Test
Few wicket-keeper batsmen have made as much impact as BJ Watling in recent times. The New Zealand keeper has made scores of 1, 77, 105*, 205, 55, 8 and 40 in his last few Tests since August this year. From lower down the order Watling has been an irresistible force with his defiance and grit and we could see further evidence of the same in the Boxing Day Test match.
KAGISO RABADA
Country: South Africa
Match/Series: South Africa vs England, Tests
Rabada is one of the leading fast bowlers in the world in Test cricket today and picking him in a Test match, particularly on tracks conducive to pace bowling should be a no-brainer. In home Tests since 2017, Rabada has 96 wickets in just 17 Test matches at an average of 17.6 with five five-wicket hauls. With a brutal strike rate of 32.4, Rabada is an all-time great in Tests and on a surface with pace and bounce, against a weak England batting group, he will be a handful.
MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE
Country: Australia
Australia v New Zealand, 2nd Test
With 1022 runs in 10 Test matches, Marnus Labuschagne is the only batsman at the moment with over a 1000 runs in Tests this year. Labuschagne averages 68.13 in the format in Tests this year and has three hundreds and six fiftes in 15 innings in the year. The middle-order batsman has taken Test cricket by storm and has scores of 185, 162, 143 and 50 in his last four outings in Test matches.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Peter Parks
