However, he was dropped for a few English Ashes Tests.

Dropped for perhaps the most prestigious series there is DC. You make it sound like it was series against Zimbabwe or some other minnow. ..and why was he not considered until late in the series.. because his red ball form has been dropping year after year. We all know his main worth is polishing off the tail.

Broad definitely. He had Warner and Harris in a stranglehold. Outstanding bowling. Who is it says this bloke is not world class? Archer performed spasmodically. One really good match in which he crowned Smith and looked very dangerous with his pace. But he dropped off big time after that. Half of Starcs wickets came from smashing a weak as piss Pakistan side Mike. Generous to say they were Futures League standard.. more Premier Cricket.  Starc was mediocre before this and not much better since. Can't argue about Wagner quantity.. the figures are there for all to see. 

Is it time to change my mind over Stokes. He is certainly more patient than he used to be and is reaping the rewards.. another important ton overnite. Is he actually trying to convince us he wants to be a specialist bat.

If conditions are favourable then starc lacks the consistency to be as good as some of our other bowlers. He probably gets the same average and the same strike rate in any conditions.

If conditions are unfavourable or even ok for fast bowling then he is one of the best strike bowlers in world cricket. He has one of the highest strike rates of all time

It looks like Starc was the 4th highest wicket taker in 2019 in world cricket. His figures when he played were good. 

Good research, Mike. 

However, he was dropped for a few English Ashes Tests. He only played one didn’t he? 

Did you get paid Baggers?

If you want to look at Ashes then you would also have to consider Broad and Archer, especially Archer who also only played 4 games and took 22 wickets @ 20 and England won 2 of those tests, drew one, lost one. But Starc is the only contentious selection, but his record for 2019 of 42 wickets @ 20.7 and an incredible SR of 37 (better than Cummins SR 44) taking 2.8 wickets per innings compared to Cummins 2.6 W/Inn, it is hard to argue. Wagner deserves his spot 43 wickets @ 17.8 and a SR of 37.6 and taking 3.9 wickets per innings and is probably deserving of the title of "first picked bowler", not his fault NZ don't get the number of test matches others do.

Where did you read that Baggers? 

I have read articles that talk about Watling, Bairstow, Dhoni, Mushfiqur Rahim, Buttler, De Kock, but really I have never seen Paine's name mentioned anywhere outside Australia. It seems to me the most highly regarded current wicket keeper based solely on keeping is Mushfiqur Rahim and he is also the best bat in Bangladesh. De Kock is the only player South Africa has at the moment that is fairly consistent with the bat. Most cricket commentators are comparing De Kock to Gilchrist and Boucher.

If your honest about it Paine's best keeping days were lost to injury, there is no way Paine at 35 is anywhere near as agile as when he was 25, he'll always be a "what may have been"

How many of those are on sub cont wickets?

???????

then please delete any reference to my post.

I think you will also find that Kumar Sangakkara rates both Paine and Whatling over QDK. I rate Sanga a superior keeper to Boucher.. so which former keeper do we believe?

What Test were Hazlewood overlooked in. You do recall he was out injured for several months.

What we have to remember is that both Starc and Hazlewood were overlooked for selection in some Tests.

Although in the Tests they  both played, Hazlewood may have been more consistent than Starc.

I wouldn't have thought that Wagner was world class, but what cannot be disputed is that he is the next highest wicket taker, along with GOAT, after Cummins for Tests played in 2019.

I agree Hazlewood's performances in The Ashes, against Pakistan, and the first over or two he bowled against the BCs, were outstanding in 2019. Shami and Rabada may also have claims for a pace bowling spot.

Apparently, the South African coach ,  Mark Boucher,  considers QDK to be  the world's top keeper.

Without  wanting to digress, no. 

I wish he would  return to IS to be the more measured  and congenial poster he used to be about 9 months ago though. The current obnoxious manifestation  of said poster, isn't wanted.

DC I am fine having Watling there. No way is Q de Kock mentioned in the same breath as Paine or Watling tho. Check out his keeping technique.

Sorry I still dont rate Wagner world class.. so he dont make my world team.

Mitchell Starc.. ICC you aint serious. Where was he during four games of the Ashes..warming the bench and carrying drinks because he came into the series in mediocre red ball form. Since then he has beat up on a sub standard Pakistan to get his big figure count.. one good match against the Black Caps. I'd have had JH also over Starc. He has hit back from some moderate wicket taking to post a solid year..topped off by his 20 @21 in the Ashes. He looked in prime form too in the little we saw of him in the NZ series. One of the balls of the series the one that castled Raval.

Stokes..cricketer of the year.. please.. the man other than one or two exceptional white ball like red ball innings in the Ashes..has done little. His FC figures remain moderate. I expect he got the gong for his white ball heroics in the World Cup.

DC if you were to measure Wicket-keeping solely on D/I then you would be right, Both De Kock and Paine are approx 2.5 D/I and Watling is 2 D/I in 2019, but those stats are dependant on bowlers, eg an attack that attacks the stumps, will get more bowled and LBW and less opportunities for Caught behind. Sarfaraz Ahmed has a 3.5 D/I, but only played 2 tests, Mohammad Rizwan has a 2.6 D/I and a 36 batting average but only 4 tests

For myself I regard Wicket keeping the most difficult position, not only the physical fatigue but the mental fatigue having to concentrate on every single delivery in the field and then also bat, they are the best. That's why I regard Kumar Sangakkara as the best keeper even though he doesn't have the overall figures to support, but in 2007 he gave the keeping away to Prasanna Jayawardene giving himself a break and concentrate more on batting, but only in tests he remained keeper in ODI.

So as keeper you do have to look at batting as well.
de Kock 15 innings 713 runs @ 48
Watling 11 innings 559 runs @ 55
Paine 17 innings 361 runs @ 24
I think it was a battle between de Kock and Watling for the keeping position probably 51%-49% in favour of Watling

Rabada played 8 matches 33 wickets @ 27 but 3 tests were in India, but why was India's pace attack so good? probably because SA batting is really poor presently.

International cricketer of the year is performances across all forms for the year and 2019 was a ODI WC where England won

Stokes Batting
Test Cricket 5th leading run scorer with 821 @ 45
ODI 719 runs @ 60

Stokes Bowling which he is a part time bowler
Test cricket 22 wickets @ 35
ODI 12 wickets @ 44

Smith in ODI's av 37.9 is ranked about number 80 in 2019. 

Wicket keeping is  about keeping  wickets - not batting. 

At the 30 Test mark  Paine has made 131 dismissals - the highest number of dismissals in the history of test cricket for a keeper playing 30 Tests.

Given you've previously posted the South African and Indian attacks are  decidedly Australia's , according to you the  criteria you use to analyse Test cricketers, other keepers should have had more opportunity for dismissals - with more stumping and catching opportunities  from what you consider  to be superior attacks .

Local specialist sports media, who I know, and have a reasonable knowledge of the game, have stated that there  has been a weird anti-Paine campaign  from a section of the Aus media ever since he was appointed keeper for Australia. The local sports media also argued they had no specific performance criteria to substantiate their claims. Carey has a similar Shield average 33, but it is also similar  Paine's Test batting average over 31 Tests of 32. 

In his career, Yasir Shah has played 37 Tests, taking 207 wickets at an average of 29.

This is nearly 6 wickets a Test, which is incredible. 

I'm not sure what happened with him in 2019, to miss out on the ICC Test team? He wasn't that potent in Aus in the two Tests he played.

With spin, when I've seen Jadeja and Ashwin bowling for India, they've usually look ed potent on helpful wickets. 

Quite impressive for Lyon to have taken the second or third highest number of Test wickets. This is  particularly because he looked to have lost  form after the first few Ashes Tests, but it could have been due to an injury in his bowling hand too. 

 On reputation, I thought Yasir Shah, the Pakistani wrist spinner, was easily the top spinner in the world, but like many Subcontinental spinners he struggled in the series against Aus  by his own incredibly high standards.

Despite causing controversy in Australia, I didn’t realise Wagner was so successful in 2019. 

These figures are pretty good  from the Indian pace bowlers.

Given Starc wasn't selected for most of The Ashes, and overlooked, the Indian pace bowlers, particularly Shami, have decent  figures. I haven't seen Rabada's and Starc's figures for the whole the year, but Starc could have been lucky to be selected .  

Then again according  to other posters,  Kohli changes the team frequently - depending on conditions.

I'm assuming Stokes'  averages over the year with batting and bowling must have been reasonably good.

Good to see you posting here, JAS88. 

Watling scored runs. Match winning runs. vs England - in Asia vs SL...

Paine lost winning the Ashes on the worst review in DRS history...

What's Paine got to do with an ICC team? He's a nice guy. He's not an intl star cricketer.

He has never starred on the field ever.

He doesn't even a have a test century. Now Langer can say he doesn;'t need to score runs. But Langer aint picking the ICC team. That many times has had Sanga or ABDV as keeper - despite not even keeping.

cant understand how having a good innings on your home turf and ground makes you a great? if Stokes did it in Australia then by all means.. but he didnt.

Smith did in England where many Aussie batsmen struggle.