Blackcaps captain Kane Williamson and fast bowler Kyle Jamieson's outstanding 2021 campaigns have been recognised with selection in the ICC Test Team of the Year.
Shortlisted for ICC Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year respectively, the pair were logical selections for test team honours, after a stellar 12 months, and helping New Zealand win the inaugural World Test Championship title.
With the bat, Williamson, 31, averaged 65.83 from his four tests, but most of his runs came in his first test of the year, where he scored 238 against Pakistan at Christchurch.
Williamson has also been named as the side's captain, ahead of both England skipper Joe Root and Sri Lankan Dimuth Karunaratne, who also feature.
Meanwhile, Jamieson, 26, also enjoyed a fantastic year in cricket's longest format, taking 27 wickets at an average of 17.51 and named Man of the Match in the World Test Championship final in June.
Jamieson's incredible form with the ball also made him the fastest New Zealander to reach 50 test wickets, bowling Indian Shubman Gill in just his ninth match.
Along with the two Kiwis, the team features Indians Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, and Pakistan's Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi.
Australia, England and Sri Lanka all contribute one player each - in Marnus Labuschagne, Root and Karunaratne.
Despite New Zealand's run to the Twenty20 World Cup final in the UAE, not a single Blackcap has been named in the T20 Team of the Year.
With the Blackcaps only playing three one-day internationals in 2021, none were named in the ODI Team of the Year either.
ICC Test Team of 2021: Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Rohit Sharma (India), Marnus Labuschagne (Australia), Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Fawad Alam (Pakistan), Rishabh Pant (India), Ravichandran Ashwin (India), Kyle Jamieson (New Zealand), Hasan Ali (Pakistan), Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
