From master blasters, to technical crafters, fiery seamers and wily spinners to the all-round superstars and the best leaders, world cricket is stacked with talent.

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But who is the best of the best right now?

News Corp’s National Newsroom cricket writers butted heads to produce a definitive top 50.

Countdown compiled by: Robert Craddock, Joe Barton, Ben Horne, Sam Landsberger and Steve Wilson.

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PLAYERS 50-41

50. Angelo Mathews

Age: 33 Country: Sri Lanka

Tests: 86 ODIs: 217 T20Is: 75

Mercurial all-rounder: The cricket world seems to be permanently waiting for him to rise from “very good to great’’ but a Test batting average of 45 after 11 years and 86 games is a notable effort, particularly with a sprinkling of wickets.

49. Colin de Grandhomme

Age: 34 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 24 ODIs: 42 T20Is: 36

Robust all-rounder: Nuggety Zimbabwean-raised all-rounder with plenty of punch and crunch with the bat and the ability to land the ball on a fly’s footprint. A useful player for a team who loves his type.

48. Hardik Pandya

Age: 27 Country: India

Tests: 11 ODIs: 54 T20Is: 40

Explosive all-rounder: Very much the trendy new model Indian star with the tats, occasionally bleached tips, cool threads and 5.9 million Twitter followers. And he can also hit a ball out of the park and bowl useful medium pace.

47. AB de Villiers

Age: 36 Country: South Africa

Tests: 114 ODIs: 228 T20Is: 78

Mr 360: Still rumbling along on the T20 circuit at age 36 he is the one player Australia’s pacemen said they had no clue how to get out such was the elastic nature of his skills and audacity of his stroke play.

46. Sam Curran

Age: 22 Country: England

Tests: 19 ODIs: 5 T20Is: 5

Kid Dynamite: Fresh-faced and fearless, all-rounder Curran, is the younger brother of fellow Test player Tom. Made his Test debut at 19 and won a man of the match award one match later. That many seem unsure whether he is a better batter or bowler says much of his potential as both.

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45. BJ Watling

Age: 35 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 70 ODIs: 28 T20Is: 5

Square-jawed wicketkeeper: Under-rated player. South African-born Kiwi keeper with a fondness for a decent scrap who cobbled together eight Test centuries and a batting average of 38 in an unfinished 70 Test career.

44. Mayank Agarwal

Age: 29 Country: India

Tests: 11 ODIs: 3 T20Is: 0

Prolific opener: Averages a formidable 57 after 11 Tests which won’t surprise Australian fans who saw him score a classy 76 in an unruffled Boxing Day Test debut on the last tour.

43. KL Rahul

Age: 28 Country: India

Tests: 36 ODIs: 32 T20Is: 42

Debonair strokemaker: The deep thinking son of two university professors is a mildly controversial selection on this Australian tour because his Test form in patchy. But he was on fire in the recent IPL and, at best, his game can be solid or spectacular depending on what’s required.

42. Shikhar Dhawan

Age: 34 Country: India

Tests: 34 ODIs: 136 T20Is: 61

Cavalier opener: Never quite lived up to the Test match promise of his powder keg century on debut against Australia but it’s impossible to look away when this colourful moustache twirling opener is teeing off in white ball cricket.

41. Ravichandran Ashwin

Age: 34 Country: India

Tests: 71 ODIs: 111 T20Is: 46

Tireless all-rounder: Hardworking finger spinner with some clever tricks, no tolerance of batsmen wandering out of their crease, and an enviable Test batting average of 28. Been a consistent force for a decade.

PLAYERS 40-31

40. Shakib Al-Hasan

Age: 34 Country: Bangladesh

Tests: 56 ODIs: 206 T20Is: 76

Back from ban: Might not play in Australia again with CA shutting the door on a Big Bash return despite his one-year suspension for breaching the anti-corruption code expiring. But the gifted all-rounder averaged 87 runs and took 11 wickets in the World Cup and had claims to the player of the tournament award given to Kane Williamson.

39. Dimuth Karunaratne

Age: 32 Country: Sri Lanka

Tests: 66 ODIs: 31 T20Is: 0

Second-innings specialist: Sri Lanka became the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa and it came under DK’s captaincy last year. Not even a drink-driving arrest in March last year could dislodge the consistent opener as skipper in the lead-up to last year’s World Cup.

38. Tim Southee

Age: 31 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 73 ODIs: 143 T20Is: 71

King Kohli stopper: The only bowler on the planet to dismiss Virat Kohli 10 times, Southee’s swing made an instant mark when he returned from the Under-19 World Cup as player of the tournament to make his Test debut as a teenager – and take 5-55 against England before smashing New Zealand’s fastest half century (77 not-out off 40 balls).

37. Yashir Shah

Age: 34 Country: Pakistan

Tests: 42 ODIs: 25 T20Is: 2

Spin wizard: Shah’s Test career started with the wicket of Steve Smith and with selection at the expense of Saeed Ajmal, who was banned for an illegal action. Shah had made his first-class debut as a 15-year-old some 12 years earlier, but has proved worth the wait with Shane Warne rating the leggie as one of the best spinners in the game.

36. Quinton de Kock

Age: 27 Country: South Africa

Tests: 47 ODIs: 121 T20Is: 44

Modern-day Gilly: It seems everything de Kock does is at breakneck speed – whether it is his swift handy work behind the stumps, his scintillating stroke play or the speed at which he took international cricket by storm. It feels as though South Africa’s gloveman in all three formats has been around forever, but he is still just 27.

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35. Ravindra Jadeja

Age: 31 Country: India

Tests: 49 ODIs: 165 T20Is: 49

Modest beginnings: A life destined for the Indian army took a sharp U-turn when a policeman and part-time cricketer Jadeja’s father knew saved the eight-year-old by pushing him into a cricket bungalow instead. Once nicknamed ‘Rock star’ by Shane Warne in the IPL.

34. Tim Paine

Age: 35 Country: Australia

Tests: 31 ODIs: 35 T20Is: 12

Accidental hero: Certain to go down as one of the all-time greatest leaders after taking the reins in South Africa and slowly regaining Australia’s respect of the world through honesty, good humour and a sense of calm. Just don’t mention DRS.

33. Mohammed Shami

Age: 30 Country: India

Tests: 49 ODIs: 77 T20Is: 11

Underrated sidekick: Jasprit Bumrah’s sidekick bowls natural outswingers with the new ball and reverse swing with the old ball. Shami’s bowling action is as pure as a nun and for a 178cm fast bowler he generates some heavy bounce.

32. Jos Buttler

Age: 30 Country: England

Tests: 47 ODIs: 145 T20Is: 71

Forceful or feeble?: Unorthodox and, at times, unstoppable, Buttler’s boom came as England’s biggest T20 weapon. The powerful batsman can score in any direction although his form rises and falls like a rollercoaster at times. Lapses in concentration have diminished his Test returns, but when Buttler is on the gloveman is of silver service to England.

31. Chris Woakes

Age: 31 Country: England

Tests: 38 ODIs: 104 T20Is: 8

Big-game performer: The forgotten man in England’s historic World Cup triumph last year after rattling the Aussies with a withering semi-final spell. Woakes lived in Jofra Archer’s shadow at the tournament, but Australia was on life support at 3-14 after he set up David Warner and Pete Handscomb beautifully.

PLAYERS 30-21

30. Glenn Maxwell

Age: 32 Country: Australia

Tests: 7 ODIs: 113 T20Is: 64

Brilliant, mercurial talent: A magnificent mix of explosive batting, incredible fielding and a game-changing ability with the ball. Maxwell has the potential to go down as an all-time Australian great – but has never truly put everything together for long stretches. There’s still time.

29. Ajinkya Rahane

Age: 32 Country: India

Tests: 65 ODIs: 90 T20Is: 20

The quiet one: Unassuming and lacking the brashness of his more vocal teammate, Virat Kohli, Rahane is as complete a batsman as you could ask for. With a compact technique and a confidence against the short ball, Rahane has helped solidify India’s middle order in a post-Dravid/Laxman world.

28. Faf du Plessis

Age: 36 Country: South Africa

Tests: 65 ODIs: 143 T20Is: 47

Classic Aussie antagonist: For whatever reason, Faf became Enemy No.1 for Australian cricketers. Was it his chiselled physique? His backbreaking, match-saving unbeaten 110 to force a draw at Adelaide, 2012? Just his general cocksure attitude in the face of Aussie outrage? Or it could just be that Faf is an outstanding batsman and a general thorn in the side of Australian teams.

27. Jonny Bairstow

Age: 31 Country: England

Tests: 70 ODIs: 83 T20Is: 43

Fiery English slugger: Once best known in Australia for his mysterious headbutt of Cameron Bancroft, Bairstow’s legacy is now matchwinning centuries in must-win matches to help secure England’s maiden World Cup title. On the outer in the red-ball game, but a genuine white-ball superstar.

26. Ross Taylor

Age: 36 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 101 ODIs: 232 T20Is: 100

Like fine wine: Debuted as an aggressive 21-year-old and 15 years later is still among the first picked in all three formats for the Black Caps. Currently ranked the fourth best ODI batsman on the planet, Taylor is New Zealand’s highest run scorer in Tests and ODIs and is third on their T20 list.

25. Eoin Morgan

Age: 34 Country: England

Tests: 16 ODIs: 242 T20Is: 94

England’s fearless leader: Put Irish cricket on the map by securing their passage to the 2011 World Cup – and then turned his back on them to become one of England’s finest. His aggressive leadership since taking over the ODI reins ahead of the 2015 World Cup culminated in last year’s historic title.

24. Rashid Khan

Age: 22 Country: Afghanistan

Tests: 4 ODIs: 71 T20Is: 48

White-ball wizard: The face of Afghanistan cricket who could single-handedly bring relevance to the fledgling cricket nation. Does things with a cricket ball few before him thought possible and a bona fide T20 superstar. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be your favourite cricketer.

23. Aaron Finch

Age: 34 Country: Australia

Tests: 5 ODIs: 129 T20Is: 64

White-ball rock: A no-nonsense power hitter from country Victoria who has for the best part of a decade been the bedrock of Australia’s white-ball batting line-ups. His 172 against Zimbabwe will take some beating as Australia’s top T20I score.

22. Neil Wagner

Age: 34 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 48 ODIs: 0 T20Is: 0

Tough and relentless: There’s much to admire about a cricketer who is so much more than the sum of his parts. Not blessed with express pace, but Wagner will go all-out for 90 overs a day. Bowled his heart out by peppering Steve Smith with short stuff last summer, but devastating swing is his real asset.

21. Cheteshwar Pujara

Age: 32 Country: India

Tests: 77 ODIs: 5 T20Is: 0

The new wall: Pujara has no interest in the white-ball game, making him something of an anomaly in T20-obsessed India – but he is a titan of Test cricket. Proper old-school mentality and takes joy in spending hours upon hours at the crease – and breaking bowlers in the process. Central to India’s historic series win in Australia two years ago.

PLAYERS 20-11

20. Josh Hazlewood

Age: 29 Country: Australia

Tests: 51 ODIs: 51 T20Is: 8

Mr Reliable: Australia would deeply regret leaving him out of last year’s 50-over World Cup. Hazlewood would be one of the first chosen in any world XI. Never lets anyone down and he’s so consistent his skills can be underestimated.

19. Jason Holder

Age: 29 Country: West Indies

Tests: 43 ODIs: 115 T20Is: 17

Island inspiration: One of the best leaders in world cricket – Holder has a presence about him which has lifted the West Indies to some inspiring moments in what has otherwise been a difficult era. Very good Test bowling record and has three Test hundreds to boot.

18. Rohit Sharma

Age: 33 Country: India

Tests: 32 ODIs: 224 T20Is: 108

Short stuff: There is a feeling among some Indian fans that Rohit should be India’s short form captain. Averages nearly 50 in Test and ODI cricket and will be a huge factor this summer.

17. James Anderson

Age: 38 Country: England

Tests: 156 ODIs: 194 T20Is: 19

Swing king: Like Broad, is a great of English cricket whose longevity continues to express. Has largely struggled on Australian soil, but in the UK, he is scary.

16. Nathan Lyon

Age: 32 Country: Australia

Tests: 96 ODIs: 29 T20Is: 2

Spin doctor: One of the great stories in world cricket. The nervous, country kid who doubted he belonged on the big stage and who was chopped and changed by selectors over several years – has now become the game’s most effective spinner and Australia’s greatest ever off spinner. His numbers are now astounding.

15. Trent Boult

Age: 31 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 67 ODIs: 90 T20Is: 27

Great white hope: Brilliant white ball bowler and can swing the red ball in New Zealand around corners. Has an excellent IPL Twenty20 record and if not for a foot on the white line, would be a World Cup champion.

14. Stuart Broad

Age: 34 Country: England

Tests: 143 ODIs: 121 T20Is: 56

Swinging low: Outstanding bowler and one of the greats of England cricket. Close to unplayable in English conditions, but also finds away in other environments as well.

13. Joe Root

Age: 29 Country: England

Tests: 97 ODIs: 149 T20Is: 32

Great expectations: The England captain should look at this list and ask why he doesn’t rank higher? The reason is he has too often failed in big series, particularly against Australia. On talent and ability, he can be better and his country needs him to lift.

12. Jofra Archer

Age: 25 Country: England

Tests: 11 ODIs: 17 T20Is: 4

Greatest showman: Fear factor, competitor, character, showman – Archer is one of the best things to happen to international cricket over recent years. Archer v Australia on Australian soil next year promises to be scintillating.

11. Mitchell Starc

Age: 30 Country: Australia

Tests: 57 ODIs: 94 T20Is: 34

The destroyer: The left-armer is hard to top as the best white ball fast bowler in world cricket. The decision by Australia to leave him out of the majority of last year’s Ashes – hurt them – but also looks like a turning point for Starc. A big Test summer against India and Starc should slot into this top 10.

PLAYERS 10-2

10. Kagiso Rabada

Age: 25 Country: South Africa

Tests: 43 ODIs: 75 T20Is: 24

Shouldering South Africa: Delhi coach Ricky Ponting paid almost $800,000 for Rabada in this year’s Indian Premier League, and the tearaway fast bowler scooped 30 wickets – ranked No.2 in the rich tournament’s history. ‘KG’ became world cricket’s youngest bowler to take 150 Test wickets when he was 23 and it is frightening to think he is still just 25 years old. The son of a doctor and a nurse from Johannesburg seemed destined to lead South Africa’s attack before he blew out 21 birthday candles. Who could forget the shouldercharge he put on Steve Smith in the Test match preceding sandpaper-gate?

9. Marnus Labuschagne

Age: 26 Country: Australia

Tests: 14 ODIs: 10 T20Is: 0

Sub to superstar: Labuschagne arrived as Test cricket’s first concussion substitute and then knocked the lights out of England, Pakistan and New Zealand’s attacks in a five-month burst that changed the fortunes of Australian cricket. Gritty under dark skies in England and ruthless at home, Labuschagne’s challenge is to maintain the rage now that bowlers will go to school on him because he is on the map. Idol Steve Smith warned that would be Labuschagne’s next hurdle, while the South African-born batsman who eats cricket balls for breakfast wants to emulate Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson by becoming a three-format force. Labuschagne is so obsessed with cricket he is often dragged out of the nets at training only to go home and keep on batting in the garage.

8. David Warner

Age: 34 Country: Australia

Tests: 84 ODIs: 126 T20Is: 81

Pulverising and polarising: Warner is world cricket’s most polarising figure commands eyeballs no matter what format or level he is playing. He is also an undisputed runs machine, particularly on Australian pitches where he bullies attacks like the big kid in kindergarten. Warner has that rare ability to strike fear into a bowler before he has faced a delivery, perhaps barring Ashes conqueror Stuart Broad. Sitting out most of 2018 (suspended) and 2020 (COVID-19) could prolong the 34-year-old’s career, and the 2023 ODI World Cup in India is looking like the finish line for the brazen batsman who has helped change the game.

7. Babar Azam

Age: 26 Country: Pakistan

Tests: 29 ODIs: 77 T20Is: 44

Captain ambition: Easily Pakistan’s best batter and sits in the top five on the world rankings in all three formats. Will captain Pakistan in all formats at age 26 following his recent elevation to Test skipper.

Smart and ambitious, he is determined to captain with the courage and positivity of Imran Khan and will need that drive to survive in the volatile world of Pakistan cricket.

6. Kane Williamson

Age: 30 Country: New Zealand

Tests: 80 ODIs: 151 T20Is: 60

Mr Nice Guy: Despite averaging 50 after a decade of Test cricket the most widely acknowledged part of his contribution to the game is the goodwill he displayed after his team was beaten in heartbreaking circumstances by England in the last 50 over World Cup final. Cool, calm and ethically as sound as they come, he has become one of the world’s most admired cricketers and New Zealand’s greatest Test batsman. Has scored more Test centuries on the road than at home.

5. Pat Cummins

Age: 27 Country: Australia

Tests: 30 ODIs: 67 T20Is: 30

Poster boy paceman: The boy next door meets James Bond in a silky pace bowling package of endurance, raw speed, and bowling smarts delivered with honest intent without graceless trimmings. Once the world’s most fragile fast man who became its most formidable, he has just six wickets less than Dennis Lillee from the same number of Tests. His speed rarely varies from his first to his last Test ball of the day and his fighting quality with the bat says much about his determination.

4. Jasprit Bumrah

Age: 26 Country: India

Tests: 14 ODIs: 64 T20Is: 50

Awkward, ugly brilliance: Everything about Bumrah confounds logic. His rigid, whippy action? It’s unconventional at best, and to a fresh set of eyes is downright bizarre. And coming from India, a nation that counts on one hand its number of elite fast bowlers? It makes no sense. But here is Bumrah, ranked 9th in Tests, 2nd in ODIs and 11th in T20 cricket, who finished the IPL’s second-highest wicket-taker this month but whose Test average – an insane 20.33 – is the best of any player in the modern era. The West Indian trio of Ambrose, Marshall and Garner are the only other players to average under 21 who have played in the past 60 years. His style is unusual, but his results are unquestionable.

3. Ben Stokes

Age: 29 Country: England

Tests: 67 ODIs: 95 T20Is: 26

Complete all-rounder: For nearly 70 years Australia has been searching for a game-changing all-rounder to follow in the footsteps of Keith Miller. Making the search even more frustrating has been England unearthing, first, Andrew Flintoff and, now, Ben Stokes. You could easily make an argument that says Stokes is the most valuable cricketer on the planet. He’s a combative star in all formats who can bat at No.3, bowl first change and also win you a game with a moment of brilliance. A Google search of “Stokes Headingley heroics” will tell you everything you’ll ever need to know about him – and why history will never forget him.

2. Steve Smith

Age: 31 Country: Australia

Tests: 73 ODIs: 125 T20Is: 42

Best since Bradman: What more can be said about Australia’s unflappable run machine? Smith’s development from his early days as a spin bowling all-rounder is simply mind-boggling. On pure numbers, he is a flat-out freak: his average of 62 trails only the incomparable Bradman for batsmen to have played more than 15 Tests, only six Australians have scored more centuries and by the end of the summer he could overtake coach Justin Langer to be the country’s seventh highest run scorer. And he’s only 31 years old. Already has enough matchwinning performance in all formats to go down as an all-time great – and there’s so much still to come.

1. VIRAT KOHLI

Age: 32 Country: India

Tests: 86 ODIs: 248 T20Is: 82

It’s not just because of his batting average, his pay packet or his 39 million Twitter followers.

It’s not just because Time magazine declared him one of its 100 most influential people on the planet or because he was the first Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia.

It’s not one thing, it’s the Virat Kohli package: batting icon, charismatic captain, fearless warrior, thoroughly modern trendsetter and trailblazer that makes him the No.1 cricketer in the world.

Debate if you will who comes second — our vote had Steve Smith — but Kohli is without peer. As a batsman, he has established the rare feat of averaging more than 50 in all three forms of the game but it is his influence beyond the boundary that means more to India and the world.

The fact Kohli loves and treasures Test cricket means that the five-day game will never become extinct in his era for Virat gets what Virat wants.

Kohli has changed the way Indian men think of themselves. He is proud of his chiselled, gym-planed physique and has no issues flaunting photos of his “rig’’ in a gym or at a pool.

Many young Indian men now have the same sense of confidence about their bodies and respect for diets and exercise routines.

This Indian team is no longer intimidated by playing Australia in Australia, as some of those that have come before them — and that’s largely because of the skipper.

Kohli’s natural flamboyance masks the grit in his journey. Midway through his career he changed his eating habits to strip “baby fat’’ from his frame and said he was so hungry at night he wanted to eat the bedsheets.

But the hunger only served to drive him to greater heights and support a policy where if his teammates do not reach a specified level in the “beep’’ tests they are not permitted to play for India.

When the great Sachin Tendulkar retired it seemed inconceivable India could unearth a batsman who would unseat him as their supreme role model.

Yet Indian youngsters don’t want to be Sachin any more. They want to be Kohli.

Tendulkar may play more Tests, score more runs and have a better average but Kohli has the sizzle and the swagger, the dare and the stare.

Where Tendulkar was technically magnificent, stylish, efficient but reclusive to the point of being bashful, Kohli has been brash, confident, confrontational, enjoying stormy seas as much as Tendulkar enjoyed a quiet estuary.

Tendulkar would walk away from a fight. Kohli would willingly start one.