At this time of year the song asks us 'May auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?' and when it comes to The Cricket List the answer is - yes. However, this year more than most, we are bidding farewell to some of our oldest acquaintances....but first; who remains?
Retained
Virat Kohli is the first name on the Indian team sheet and the captain of the Men In Blue is retained for a third year after finishing in the top 5 for the last two years.
Simon Harmer is another name who has been an ever present on our list. Finishing first in 2018 and second in 2019; big things will be expected of the South African in 2020.
The last member of the trio of players who have featured since the start of this blog is Joe Root. The England captain finished 10th in 2018 and 5th in 2019, so his steady progress will leave many of his fans hopeful for next year.
Now we have those three elder statesmen out of the way we can turn our attention to four players who featured last year.
Shubman Gill has long been the next cab off the rank for Indian cricket and despite a poor showing in 2019 - finishing outside the top 15 - this could very well be the make or break year for the Punjab man.
The retention of Glenn Maxwell for 2020 is a no-brainer. The Big Show was supreme in 2019 and finished in first position by some distance despite a sabbatical from the game. With a return to the IPL, a T20 World Cup and his inclusion in The Hundred this year could be even bigger.
Rohit Sharma finished just outside the top 5 in 2019 but starts the new year as a regular starter in all three formats of the game - a position he has not been in for many a year. Could this be the year where he pushes himself into the echelons of Indian cricket?
2020 will not be as dramatic a year as 2019 for Ben Stokes but he will hope to improve on his position from this year. Another player who is just outside the top 5, he will be a key feature for the T20 World Cup as well as a regular feature for England.
There are also a triumvirate of Australian players who make their return to The List after a gap year in 2019.
First off is Aaron Finch, a top ten finish in 2018 was not enough to see him retained for 2019, however a return to the IPL, captaining the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred and a T20 World Cup makes him an eye-catching prospect for 2020.
Steve Smith's absence from the list last year was more of an ICC enforced gap year than for Finch however his Ashes performance in 2019 has shown that he is still a world beater. You would expect him to improve on his 23rd place finish in 2018.
Just ahead of Smith in 2018 came David Warner. When not selected in 2019, many would have expected the diminutive Aussie's time on our Lists to be over - however, despite an under-baked Ashes performance, he has proved himself enough on his return to feature this year.
New players
And now we turn to a fresh crop of debutantes to our list. Who will be the next Glenn Maxwell and who will be the next Joe Burns?
A South African Kolpak bowler that will hope to make as much of an impact on The Cricket List as his compatriot from Essex. Kyle Abbott finished second to Harmer for most wickets in 2019; can he go one better in 2020?
Perhaps a surprise inclusion on this list, Colin Ackermann has more than proved his worth for Leicestershire over the last 18 months. He has now also qualified to play for the Netherlands which will increase the amount of cricket he plays. He becomes the first Dutch player to feature in The Cricket List.
Babar Azam has been a palpable absence in our list this year. His form for Pakistan and Somerset has been marking him out as one of the brightest talents in world cricket. Expect him to challenge that top 5 in 2020.
Another Somerset player on our list for 2020, Tom Banton's T20 Blast form catapulted him into the realms of T20 superstar. Currently turning out for Brisbane in the BBL, 2020 could be a defining year for Banton. Will he become a T20 gun for hire or will he push on for England selection?
Lewis Gregory made a name for himself in 2019. A key feature of the Somerset team for many years he is now an established name in a number of T20 franchise competitions and is expected to push on for England in 2020.
Martin Guptill may seem an odd selection for a 2020 list. The 33 year old went unselected in both The Hundred and IPL auctions. This will free up the big hitting New Zealander to travel round the world and become a big hitting mercenary batsman in every T10 and T20 league that will take him before touching down in Australia for the World Cup.
With the return of the disgraced duo, Peter Handscomb is now on the periphery of the Australia set up but still has a lot to offer with the BBL, Sheffield Shield and becoming Middlesex captain all on his schedule for the coming year.
Another Aussie that has caught the eye in 2019, big things are expected of Travis Head. As well as being a regular feature in the Australia team he has signed on for Sussex for the whole of the County Championship.
Jason Holder has been the quiet hero of 2019. Now the Test captain of the West Indies, he is a force to be reckoned with in all forms of the game and with him at the helm of a resurgent West Indies under Phil Simmons 2020 could be even bigger for the Barbadian.
The last of seven Australians on the 2020 list, Marnus Labuschagne went from zero to hero in 2019 and ended the year as the top scoring Test batsman. He has repaid the faith that Glamorgan showed in him by resigning for next season. Can he force his agenda and become a World Class Test batsman in 2020?
There are four South Africans that feature in out List this year, however Keshav Maharaj is the only one that is still turning out for his national team. He will also be a regular feature for Yorkshire this year after taking 38 wickets in 5 matches in 2019.
Mohammad Nabi's T20 pedigree has been slowly developing for a number of years now but any T20 franchise competition that doesn't boast the big hitting, wicket taking player isn't worth it's salt. Will be a big danger in Australia.
Released Players
The Cricket List 3.0 has something of a gear change. Gone is the focus on the 50 over game with more of a T20 vibe to it this year - also gone are a number of old favourites.
Jeetan Patel has been something of a cult favourite of The Cricket List since it started. Finishing in third for two years in a row, his retirement for Wellington and his abdication as captain of Warwickshire point to the New Zealand veteran winding down to retirement to pursue a career in coaching that he has already begun as England's spin coach.
We bid farewell to another three veterans of the last two iterations of The Cricket List in the form of Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan and Kane Williamson. All three of these players' form in 2019 have been a disappointment with Buttler and Williamson finishing outside the top 10 and Rashid just scraping in to the Top Ten. It is not out of the question that the trio will return in further Lists but for now we bid them adieu. I have long been critical of the dip in form of Rashid and sincerely hope we see him back again lest he turn into another Mustafizur Rahman.
The 2019 list had a slew of English talent that we have discarded now the World Cup has been successfully negotiated. Jonny Bairstow and Jack Leach join Buttler on the scrap heap, taking the total of England players on our list from five to two.
We also have replaced a number of County Championship bowlers who we thought could give Simon Harmer a run for his money. Mohammad Abbas, Morne Morkel, Duanne Olivier and Wayne Parnell all finished outside the top 10 and join Callum Ferguson as County Championship rejects. Abdur Razzak was an innovative selection to try and challenge Harmer - one that did not prove fruitful.
Shakib Al Hasan, Joe Burns, Shai Hope, Shreyas Iyer and Kuldeep Yadav round off the international players who do not get a berth in 2020.
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