The Black Caps have had two two players honoured in the ICC's Test team of the year after winning the inaugural World Test Championship.
Skipper Kane Williamson and fast bowler Kyle Jamieson were the two Kiwis named in the side with Williamson gaining the extra honour of being named the captain of the global XI.
Williamson's bat and leadership both played a significant role in the Black Caps' historic season in which they managed to beat India in the WTC final after a six-day thriller.
Williamson's bat was as steady as ever, scoring 395 runs in four matches at an average of 65.83 with one century.
Jamieson emerged as another strong bowling option for New Zealand last year as well, adding to the already potent pace attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and Neil Wagner.
With 27 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 17.51, as well as 105 runs at an average of 17.50, Jamieson was selected after also earning player of the match in the final at Southampton.
The pair were the only two Kiwis to feature in the ICC's five named teams for 2021 with no other New Zealanders named in the men's or women's ODI or T20 squads.
Alongside Williamson and Jamieson, the team featured three Indians in Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as well as three from Pakistan in Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi.
Australia, England and Sri Lanka all added one player each to round out the squad with Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Root and Dimuth Karunaratne also named.
ICC test team of 2021: Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Rohit Sharma (India), Marnus Labuschagne (Australia), Joe Root (England), Kane Williamson [C] (New Zealand), Fawad Alam (Pakistan), Rishabh Pant (India), Ravichandran Ashwin (India), Kyle Jamieson (New Zealand), Hasan Ali (Pakistan), Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
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