2024: The year of landmark overseas Test wins

As India defeated Australia by 295 runs in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener last month, the reactions among a fair section of the fans was followed by a feeling of restlessness, for a 10-day-long wait for the second Test of a high octane series was far too long for an appetite conditioned for ceaseless cricket. Come the Boxing Day Test - the centrepiece of the Australian cricket calendar - the attendance records were shattered at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground - 3,50,700 - surpassing the 3,50,334 set during the Ashes 1936-37 at the venue. Just three days then to allow the dust settle down after a thrilling finish, for there's still a lot to play for as the teams head to Sydney.

How much cricket is too much anyway? Factor this in: at the time of writing, the calendar year 2024 has already seen 1660 Men's T20s, 654 of them internationals - both highest in a calendar year ever by a fair distance. The number of Men's internationals across formats breached 800 for the first time ever (811). ODIs understandably took a backseat - 104 compared to an all-time record of 218 in 2023 - a World Cup year. The shortest format saw 24 250-plus scores - 300 being breached twice - featuring sixes galore and a World Cup win for a team with the arguably the craziest fanbase.

The abundance of T20s and those with high-scoring ones would perhaps reignite the debate regarding Test cricket's future in any other year, headed by a possible decline in interest and the gulf between "The Big Three" and the rest, not to mention expected one-sided wins for home teams. Not in 2024 though: which perhaps was arguably one of the best for Test cricket in terms of results, ones that reiterated the very ethos of cricket - that of the game's glorious uncertainties.

It was the year of historic overseas wins, with teams defying expectations more than once. Each of Australia, India and England were on the receiving end of some streak-ending (and unexpected, if you may add) defeats at least once. South Africa meanwhile, made giant strides in the second half of the WTC cycle to seal a spot in the final.

Test cricket in 2024: Enthralling and result-oriented

A grand total of 53 Tests were played in 2024, compared to 34 in 2023. The 50 Tests mark has been crossed only thrice previously: 55 in 2001, 54 in 2002 and 51 in 2004. Runs were scored at the rate of 3.65 (3.60 for touring sides), the quickest ever, and the overall bowling strike-rate stood at 48.6 - the lowest in 117 years.

Highest runs per six balls in Tests in a calendar year

(Minimum 10 matches)

The aforementioned numbers meant that draws were a rarity, with teams succeeding in producing results despite there being days of no play possible on more occasions than once. Just three of the 53 Tests in 2024 ended in draws, two largely marred by rain, while the last of the year ended in a high-scoring stalemate. The percentage of drawn Tests in 2024 was the lowest in a calendar year ever (minimum eight matches played).

The year of landmark overseas Test wins

From Cape Town to Brisbane and to the extremities in the subcontinent, Test cricket in 2024 was headlined by numerous historic overseas triumphs.

Most Test wins at the home of opposition in a calendar year

*The numbers don't take results at neutral venues into account

The previous years with near to those many overseas wins were dominated by matches involving lesser teams or other results on expected lines. For instance, six of the 19 overseas wins in 2004 were either in Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. There was the dominant Australia's 3-0 clean-sweep in Sri Lanka where they lost just one out of 15 Tests until 2015, and England's 3-0 win in a four-game series in the West Indies (between 2000 and 2018, West Indies had beaten England in just four out of the 33 head-to-head contests). In 2021, 10 of the 18 wins were either in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh or the West Indies.

As for 2024, it all started with the shortest ever completed Test, India registering their first ever win in Cape Town to return undefeated in a series in South Africa only for the second time after the 1-1 result in 2010/11. South Africa's 55 all-out remains the lowest total against India in Tests.

Despite contributing in a rarest of rare result, Tom Hartley's 7/62 - the best returns for an England spinner on debut in 90 years - wasn't even the best bowling performance on the day, for Shamar Joseph delivered a performance for the ages to give West Indies their first win against Australia in over 20 years, and the first Down Under since 1997. When West Indies last defeated Australia at The Gabba (another fortress), their playing XI featuring legends from top to toe had 994 Test caps between them at the start of the game, the one in 2024 had 241, with five of them with under 10 Test caps individually and one set to make debut.

England's near perfect home summer was spoiled by Sri Lanka at The Oval, the visitors registering their first win in the country after a decade to set their WTC final prospects back on track. That was after Bangladesh handed Pakistan a rare defeat after declaration, and went a step further to cap off one of the most significant chapters in their cricketing history.

With a thrilling two-wicket win in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion, South Africa booked their ticket to the WTC 2025 final at Lord's. Among all their wins in the cycle, the 2-0 sweep in Bangladesh might not come across as emphatic. However, it would certainly raise a few eyebrows if it were told that the previous series won by a SENA team in Bangladesh dated back to March 2010 - England winning by 2-0 - followed by five drawn affairs - two featuring New Zealand and one each by the other three.

The standout punch though was delivered by New Zealand, ending India's unparalleled record of 18 consecutive series wins at home with a 3-0 sweep. No other team had managed more than 10 back-to-back series wins at home, and heading into the series, the Blackcaps had won just two of their first 36 matches in the country before that tour, the last of which dated way back to 1988.

While that win did give Blackcaps a decent chance in the race to the WTC final, they too, suffered a 1-2 defeat at home to England, the first series win for the tourists in the country in over 15 years. Meanwhile, India handed Australia their first defeat at the Optus Stadium in Perth, before stumbling in the series thereafter.

Amidst all these, there was Ireland's first ever Test win - against Afghanistan at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi - which has been categorized as a neutral venue fixture. The other overseas wins in 2024 - including Australia's and Sri Lanka's 2-0 series sweeps in New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively - were on expected lines.

The backfiring "home advantage"

At the heart of teams' declining fortunes at home has been the extreme playing conditions - meant to support home sides - which has instead narrowed the gulf to offer the visiting team more than a fair chance. The WTC point system has led to home teams preparing result-oriented and lesser batting friendly surfaces, leaving little margin for error for either team. The bowling strike-rate for visiting teams in 2024 was 50.5 (marginally less than the overall 48.6), which was superior only in select years preceding WWI.

The Cape Town Test between South Africa and India, played on a surface that was eventually rated "unsatisfactory" serves a great example, wherein even six ducks in India's first innings effort of 153 could barely hurt them, for a 98-run lead was substantial on a surface that saw runs come at a premium.

India were themselves undone by Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips in Pune, the trio sharing 18 of the 20 wickets between them. Heading into the contest, India's spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar had 840 wickets and 180 appearances between them; the corresponding numbers for Santner, Ajaz and Phillips were 149 and 57 respectively. That was after the hosts were skittled out for 46 in Bengaluru - their lowest total at home - and before they failed to chase down 147 in Mumbai.

As it panned out, there was little to choose between the two team's spin bowling numbers - New Zealand spinners averaged 23.48 in the series compared to India's 24.25 - but that little margin was good enough to complete a 3-0 series sweep. For context, the difference was stark in India's previous series defeat at home - against England in 2012 - with England spinners averaging an impressive 28.61 compared to India's 40.62.

The Perth Test in November wasn't much different from Pune either: India's seam attack of three specialists and an all-rounder featured two debutants in contrast to the experienced trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

More on how the home and visiting bowlers went neck to neck in 2024: the bowling strike-rates for hosts and tourists were almost identical: 46.9 vs 50.5. A further breakdown suggests that it wasn't just in terms of pure wickets, but batters found it difficult regardless of the venue. There were 17.7% of false shots played in 2024, the highest in a calendar year since the ball-by-ball data is available. Visiting batters produced 18.7% of false shots, the most in a year, while it was 16.8% for home batters, the second highest after 2018, which anyway was the least batting friendly year (27.58 runs per wicket) since 1960. Overall, the batting average for home batters stood at 29.11, second-lowest in the 21st century after 27.81 in 2021.

Historically, batters producing marathon innings to help team draw Test matches away from home have been looked at as a heroic deed - it would've been one had Yashasvi Jaiswal and others managed to do so at the MCG on Monday. However, those have been a rarity in recent times, and teams have instead gone a step further with a boom or bust approach, 2024 having seen more of the former with multiple historic firsts not just in terms of one-off results, but series victories.