Three Young Cricketers Who Have Blossomed in 2023

2023 was a busy year in international cricket. With the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup in India taking pride of place, there was plenty of opportunity for young cricketers to prove their worth in the international arena.

Cricket wasn’t limited to the white ball format though, with a lot of Test cricket also played. 2023’s Test cricket showed that, like in the white ball formats, several younger talents are ready to step up and assume lead roles in many international teams moving into 2024 and beyond. We’ll look at three of these players and how they’ve impacted different forms of the international game over the past 12 months.

England’s Harry Brook makes a fine starting point. The 24-year-old batsman burst onto the international scene with impressive performances over the 2022 Test series in Pakistan, where he scored three centuries and a fifty in five innings. Brook continued his fine Test form in 2023, averaging 82.25 in two Tests against New Zealand in the Land of the Great White Cloud.

He amassed 329 runs in the series, including a massive 186 off only 176 balls in the second test. With almost 1200 runs in his first 12 Test matches, Harry Brook’s Test average of 62.15 is impressive for any Test batsman, never mind one so young. What’s more, his strike rate of 91.76 makes him a perfect fit in an England side playing in coach Brendon McCullum’s aggressive “Basball” style.

Another young batsman who enjoyed an incredible 2023 is India’s Shubman Gill. Although Gill scored his second test century against Australia during the year, it is in the shorter formats that he has been a standout performer for his country. With five ODI hundreds and another in the T20 format, Gill has established himself as one of the first names on the Indian team sheet for white ball games.

Gill averages 61.37 after 44 ODI innings, with almost half of these resulting in scores higher than 50. With his score of 208 against New Zealand in Hyderabad in January, Gill became the youngest player in Men’s ODI cricket, at 23, to score a double century.

Gill’s performances in the ICC Cricket World Cup in India over October and November further cemented his place in a star Indian batting order. During the tournament, Shubman Gill became one of the Indian batsmen most backed in individual betting markets offered by online sportsbooks, with many new punters making use of this how to bet guide to wager on the young Indian and others as the tournament progressed.

South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee is another young cricketer who has blossomed during 2023. He is very much an international cricket rookie, only making his debuts across all three formats during the past 12 months. Coetzee’s first taste of international cricket was his Test debut against the West Indies in February and he’s since added two more Test appearances, taking 10 wickets at an average of 24.5.

Coetzee easily transformed into ODI cricket in March, taking three wickets on debut against the same opposition. After taking eight wickets in the five-match ODI series against Australia, Coetzee captured the attention of the cricketing world during the 2023 ICC World Cup, where he took 20 wickets in eight matches to help South Africa to the semi-finals.

Still very raw at 23, Gerald Coetzee can be slightly expensive. He is fast, aggressive, and takes wickets, though, with 31 coming in his 14 ODI appearances to date. Coetzee has filled the role of the injured Anrich Nortje admirably throughout 2023 and is tipped to bowl in tandem with him when he returns.