In our first batch of team report cards for 2024: Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland, the Associates
28-Dec-2024Englandby Andrew Miller
Ben Stokes once claimed his captaincy role model was Brad Pitt’s tank commander in the World War 2 film . At times in a tetchy 2024, he bore more resemblance to Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise’s slick sports agent, in the midst of a locker-room meltdown.”You don’t know what it’s like to be me out here for you!” Stokes more or less implored, as a distinct lack of gratitude greeted England’s one-team mission to make Test cricket fun again – including widespread criticism of their eight often-thumping defeats out of 17 Tests played, and the ICC’s intransigence towards their tardy over-rates, which left Stokes cocking a snook at the World Test Championship in response.And yet, with apologies to a low-key home summer against West Indies and Sri Lanka, and tours of Pakistan and New Zealand that were a little bit samey, given the thrills of Bazball 1.0 only 18 months earlier, this was primarily a year of repositioning for England’s teams – red and white alike.The Test squad’s major objective, victory in India, had gone south by the end of February, taking with it the careers of James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, to name but three key casualties. Likewise, head coach Matthew Mott carried the can for a T20 World Cup defence that was considerably less inspired than England’s semi-final finish would suggest.The future looked bright from the get-go, however. Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell were just some of the Test debutants who immediately seized their stage, while Harry Brook and Joe Root’s 454-run stand in Multan was the prelude to them taking turns at topping the ICC’s batting rankings.With a home rematch against India looming in the summer, and the 2025-26 Ashes thereafter, England’s sins of 2024 will be amply forgiven if 2025 turns out to be a year to remember.Much the same will apply to England’s women, with the Ashes awaiting in the new year. Their unbeaten home summer against Pakistan and New Zealand was swiftly forgotten thanks to their catastrophic failure at the T20 World Cup, where West Indies booted them out in the group stages. Heather Knight’s team did, however, end the year with a first Test win in ten years, to cap a successful multi-format tour of South Africa, and warm up for their main event in 2025.High point
Two of England’s nine Test victories were truly astonishing, including their run-romp in Multan. But nothing could compare with the heist in Hyderabad in January, where Ollie Pope swept and reverse-swept his way to arguably the greatest innings by an England batter in Asia. He overturned a 190-run deficit to put England 1-0 up, and the Bazball effect seemingly knew no bounds.Low point
It wasn’t the most damaging defeat of the year, but it was the most roundly condemned. England’s attitude stank during their dead-rubber loss to Sri Lanka at The Oval, particularly in a slap-happy second innings that opened the way for Pathum Nissanka’s fourth-innings victory march. The team could have been gunning for a first home summer Test sweep for 20 years. Instead they got bent over Mother Cricket’s knee for an eight-wicket spanking.Results
Men
Tests: P17 W9 L8
ODIs: P8 W3 L5
T20Is: P17 W10 L5 NR2Women
Tests: P1 W1
ODIs: P15 W11 L3 NR1
T20Is: P22 W19 L3Pakistan marked a surprising resurgence in ODIs towards the end of the year with a 2-1 ODI series win in Australia•Getty ImagesPakistanby Danyal Rasool
If it wasn’t for the last couple of months, Pakistan’s 2024 would be about as bleak as a Kafka novel. There was disaster at the T20 World Cup, and an embarrassing 2-0 home Test defeat against Bangladesh. There was bedlam at the administrative level, where PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has held on to power but little else is stable. Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn and Mohammad Hafeez left their coaching positions in January, before Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie were appointed in April. Before the year was out, both had quit in frustration.The year was salvaged slightly by a surprising turnaround to defeat England 2-1 in a home Test series, and by Pakistan’s ODI form, which saw them win three away series in a row, over Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.There was little to cheer for Pakistan supporters in the women’s game. The side won just five of 25 matches across formats, failing to win a single ODI of the six they played. There were series losses to West Indies and England in ODIs and T20Is, and they struggled to break through in multi-team competitions too, running Sri Lanka close but failing to make the Asia Cup final. At the Women’s T20 World Cup, an impressive win over Sri Lanka was a false dawn, and they lost their next three matches heavily. Moreover, the women’s PSL that the PCB has frivolously name-dropped, appears further away than ever.High point
All of Pakistan men’s sustainable gains appear to have come in ODIs – decent timing, with a home Champions Trophy around the corner. They played no ODI cricket between last year’s World Cup and November this year, but they show signs of having stumbled into assembling a 50-over team that can take on the best, and a four-pronged pace attack put Australia to the sword in a thrilling 2-1 series win. Saim Ayub’s explosive form up top marks him as arguably the best ODI opener in the world currently, and Pakistan’s resurgence in the format is as unexpected as it is welcome.Low point
Perhaps the Test defeat at Bangladesh’s hands at home was a graver sign of decline, but what happened at the T20 World Cup trumps it for sheer shock value. Pakistan began with one of their worst ICC tournament performances in history, scraping to a tie with the USA before losing the Super Over. They followed up with a stutter of monumental proportions against India, when they somehow found a way of messing up a chase where they required 48 in eight overs with eight wickets in hand. Days later, they had marked their earliest exit in T20 World Cup history.ResultsMen
Tests: P6 W2 L4
ODIs: P9 W7 L2
T20Is: P27 W9 L17 NR1Women
ODIs: P6 L5 NR 1
T20Is: P19 W5 L14Chamari Athapaththu led from the front again to give Sri Lanka women their first Asia Cup title•Sri Lanka CricketSri Lankaby Andrew Fidel Fernando
For the first time since 2014, perhaps, Sri Lanka fans can reflect on a year of cricket and mark it down as “mostly good”. Both the men and the women crashed out of their T20 World Cups at the first opportunity, so let’s temper the good vibes with some hard truths. But still, there is reason to look to the future with optimism, for now at least.The men’s greatest triumphs came in the second half of the year. They beat India in an ODI bilateral series for the first time in 27 years, before triumphing in limited-overs series against New Zealand and West Indies (all at home). In Tests, their best performance was in the third Test against England, at The Oval, in which their four-pronged pace attack scythed through the home team in seaming conditions. There were, additionally, 2-0 wins against both Bangladesh (away), and New Zealand (home).The women lit up the early parts of the year. They won a T20I series in South Africa, before drawing the ODI series there. They then surged through the WT20 Qualifier before, in July, winning six T20Is in a row to lift the Asia Cup. Though the team are still heavily reliant on Chamari Athapaththu, who keeps dropping hints that she is retiring soon, 2024 was the year in which Harshitha Samarawickrama broke out, while teenager Vishmi Gunaratne also made strides.High point
There’s very little in cricket to match the fun of winning a multi-team tournament, and Sri Lanka Women’s Asia Cup triumph was especially sweet for having come in front of an adoring crowd in Dambulla. Packed stands and grass banks roared for Sri Lanka in their tough final against India. The images and emotions from that win will last those players – and many fans – a lifetime.Low point
While the women failing to win a single match at the World Cup was a shock, the men’s tumbling out of their World Cup within the first few days was especially facepalm-worthy. There was also the 42 all out in Durban – the lowest Test total Sri Lanka have ever made in Tests.Men
Tests: P10 W6 L4
ODIs: P18 W12 L3 T1 NR2
T20Is: P20 W10 L10 Women
ODIs: P9 W5 L3 NR1
T20Is: P23 W15 L8The 2024 T20 World Cup was New Zealand Women’s first global title in the format•Getty ImagesNew Zealandby Deivarayan Muthu
The year 2024 was one of unprecedented highs and lowly lows for New Zealand cricket. The Black Caps pulled off the unthinkable by not only securing their first-ever Test series victory in India but handing India their first-ever whitewash at home in a series of three or more matches. Hours after the men’s side had won the first Test, the White Ferns hit similar heady highs when they clinched their first T20 World Cup, toppling South Africa in Dubai.However, soon after conquering India, New Zealand men suffered back-to-back crushing losses at home against England’s Bazballers and eventually fell out of the race to make it to the World Test Championship final. Their 323-run drubbing in Wellington was their worst defeat at home in terms of margin of runs. Earlier in the year, in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, New Zealand’s men failed to make it out of the group stage, with their prep – or lack thereof – coming into sharp focus.The women’s side did deliver a T20 World Cup title but there was no indication that success was coming. Before that tournament, they lost ten T20Is in a row, their longest losing streak in the format.It was also a year where the cricketing landscape changed in New Zealand, with Neil Wagner and Tim Southee retiring from international cricket and Trent Boult signing off from World Cups. Kane Williamson, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne all gave up their central contracts to become freelancers. With the mushrooming of T20 – and T10 – leagues, the likes of Tim Seifert and Doug Bracewell even knocked back their domestic contracts to go the same route. Before the triumphant tour of India, Tom Latham took over from Southee as full-time Test captain and towards the end of the year, Mitchell Santner assumed charge as full-time white-ball captain.Speaking of changes, an unknown, uncapped domestic player, Bevon Jacobs, was plucked out from the Super Smash to turn up for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025.High point
The New Zealand men’s side came to India with just two wins in 12 Test trips from 1955. In just six days in 2024, they turned that into five wins and swept India 3-0. “I think there’d be not many pundits around the world [who] would say that you would go to India and win 3-0 and probably deep down, I’m not sure if we even believed that it was possible ourselves to do this, considering it’s never been done in history before,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said.The White Ferns staged a stunning turnaround of their own to hand New Zealand their first world T20 title.Low point
Though the women lurched from one defeat to another in the early half of 2024, and the men were walloped in Wellington towards the end of the year, the Black Caps’ T20 World Cup performance in the Caribbean in June was the performance that left them red-faced.Men
Tests: P12 W6 L6
ODIs: P3 L2 NR1
T20Is: P19 W9 L9 NR1
Women
ODIs: P11 W2 L9
T20Is: P19 W6 L13Ireland’s six-year wait for a Test win ended this year, in Abu Dhabi•ACB MediaIrelandby Andrew Miller
After seven defeats out of seven in their first five years as a Test nation, Ireland landed not one but two Test victories in 2024, against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. They were made to toil, with crippling top-order collapses in each of their meagre chases, but at least the struggle was in keeping with the straitened circumstances that continue to dog the poor men of Europe.That latter contest, Ireland’s first home Test since 2018, came close to being canned due to the prohibitive cost of erecting temporary facilities. Australia’s planned white-ball stopover in August was abandoned instead, but not before an unseemly rumpus concerning the purchase of two costly Tesla cars for Cricket Ireland’s senior executives, one of which was subsequently returned.Ireland did manage a three-match home series against Pakistan in May, as preparation for their T20 World Cup campaign, but they subsequently outsourced their next “home” series, against South Africa in September, to the UAE. By then they had at least had the good news that their administrators had long been praying for: approval from the Irish government for the development of a permanent cricket stadium and High Performance Centre in Dublin.The cricket itself was hit-and-miss. The T20 World Cup – Ireland’s qualification for which had been their high point of 2023 – was a disaster: three heavy defeats included an embarrassing loss to Canada, while their potentially diaspora-engaging clash with USA in Lauderhill was a long-foreseen washout.They did at least prove their mettle with a spirited T20I victory over Pakistan in Dublin – their first in the format – and two wins out of five across formats against South Africa, including a series-squaring ten-run win in the second T20I, in which Ross Adair crashed nine sixes in his 57-ball hundred, and his brother Mark faced down South Africa’s own big hitters with four wickets.Ireland’s women had a mixed time of it too. Scotland pipped them to a T20 World Cup place by winning their crucial semi-final at the Qualifier, but Ireland beat Sri Lanka in a home ODI series, then followed up with a pair of gripping wins (one in each white-ball format) over an admittedly under-strength England in September. A clean sweep followed on the T20I leg of their tour of Bangladesh – all the more impressive given that their tour had begun with a record 154-run thumping in the first ODI.High point
The debate will rage about the importance of Test cricket to Ireland’s future, but Andy Balbirnie’s emotional reaction to that first win in the format spoke volumes. It was good, he said, to “get that monkey off our backs”, after he steered his team over the line with an unbeaten half-century against Afghanistan. A chase of 111 hadn’t looked so straightforward when the first three wickets tumbled in the space of 4.3 overs, but the earlier dominance of Ireland’s own seamers, who claimed 19 wickets, did not go unrewarded.Low point
Fortunately for Ireland, the USA’s stunning win over Pakistan was the result that captured the imagination during the New York leg of the World Cup. However, 24 hours later, they too suffered the ignominy of being unseated by an Associate nation, as Canada held their nerve to win another low-scoring thriller by 12 runs. Ireland slumped from 26 for 0 to 59 for 6 in the space of seven overs.Men
Tests: P2 W2
ODIs: P5 W1 L4
T20Is: P14 W6 L8Women
ODIs: P12 W5 L6 T1
T20Is: P18 W15 L3Saurabh Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh celebrate USA’s milestone win against Pakistan•AFP via Getty ImagesUSA, Nepal, Netherlands, UAE, Namibia, Canada, Scotland, Oman, Kenyaby Ashish Pant
It was a year where USA cricket touched great heights. They won a T20I series against Bangladesh, their first series win against a Full Member team, and then outclassed Pakistan at the men’s T20 World Cup to qualify for the Super Eight, which also guaranteed them automatic qualification for the next T20 World Cup, in 2026.Nepal couldn’t quite replicate the highs of 2023, and weren’t as consistent this year as last, but they showed fight at the T20 World Cup, their first time at the tournament in a decade. They ran Bangladesh and South Africa close in the tournament. Elsewhere, Dipendra Singh Airee’s six sixes in an over against Qatar was a highlight.Netherlands, like Nepal, gave South Africa a scare at the T20 World Cup, but on the whole were unable to string together consistent performances like they did in last year. They did win more games than they lost: ten wins against nine losses in T20Is, and 7-5 in ODIs. And Sybrand Engelbrecht’s superhuman save against Sri Lanka got them some social media buzz.UAE had a contrasting year in terms of ODI and T20I results. They played 11 ODIs and managed just two wins, while in T20Is, they won 20 out of 26 matches, which included winning the ACC men’s Premier Cup and the men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier B.Namibia had a grand start to the year with Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton smashing the fastest century in T20I history at the time, against Nepal, but Namibia’s results nosedived as the year progressed. They secured a solitary win at the T20 World Cup, against Oman, and generally had a less than ideal time in ODIs and T20Is.Canada recorded their first win in T20 World Cups when they brushed aside Ireland by 12 runs in New York. Apart from that, it was a pretty average year, where they only managed five wins in 15 T20Is and eight wins in 15 ODIs.Off-field issues continued to plague Scotland’s cricket board, but on the field, the men’s and women’s teams fared well. The men’s team gave a good account of themselves in T20Is against England and Australia, while the women’s side made their maiden appearance at the T20 World Cup.Oman made it to the T20 World Cup but failed to win a single game and struggled consistently in both ODIs and T20Is this year.Kenya had a consistent run in T20Is this year, winning 14 of the 19 matches they played.High point
USA caused one of the upsets of the year when they shocked Pakistan at the T20 World Cup. The game went into a Super Over and the USA players held their nerve. They then also secured a Super Eight berth ahead of Full Member nations such as Pakistan and Ireland.The Nepal women’s team also chalked up a first when they beat UAE to claim their first win in the Women’s Asia Cup .Low point
Sandeep Lamichhane was sentenced to eight years in jail for rape and fined Rs 300,000 (about US$ 2255). Though he was acquitted of the crime a few months later for lack of evidence, Lamichhane was twice denied a visa to the USA for the T20 World Cup and only played the Caribbean leg of the tournament.More in our look back at 2024Stats current as on December 27, 2024