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Three Boxing Day tests, three thrilling arrivals – six months ago, who would have imagined this embarrassment of riches to close the year? India went from their lowest score to a legendary victory in one test, Pakistan nearly beat New Zealand in their own backyard, and Sri Lanka made a heroic start against Africa South before being hampered by a series of injuries. Catch up on everything that happened and take stock of the year that was in our cheat sheet.

Ajinkya Rahane’s India concludes famous victory on Boxing Day
India banned # 36allout ghosts to seal a clinical and concise victory over Australia in the second test, despite the loss of key personnel. The match belonged to Rahane, the unruffled alternate captain, whose 112 compound anchored India’s opening innings and guided them to a quietly confident victory. Australia, on the other hand, enter the third test with a number of questions over their batting order – Joe Burns is out, but is he playing a still recovering David Warner? Should Marcus Harris come in?

Wiaan Mulder and Lutho Sipamla impress as South African bowlers seal innings
Sri Lanka put out all the shots in their opening innings, reaching 369, their best innings score against South Africa, before losing nearly half of their players to injuries in the match. South Africa then racked up a whopping 621 against an exhausted attack, with Faf du Plessis contributing 199, their highest score on the Test, before the bowlers brought him home. It was a victory South Africa needed, and a victory they savor as one of their best words. Firdose Moonda, although he did not come up against a full-fledged Sri Lankan team.

New Zealand take spectacular victory despite epic position of Fawad Alam-Mohammad Rizwan
An exciting first test unfolded over time on the final day as New Zealand took the win with 4.3 overs remaining. Neil Wagner, bowling with two broken toes, and Kyle Jamieson shattered Pakistan’s heroic resistance. Despite the loss, it was vindication for Fawad Alam, whose century of testing came more than 11 years after his last, and who has often been overlooked despite scoring more points than anyone on Pakistan’s first class circuit. .

Women’s T20 Challenge 2020 achieves ‘audience record’, 147% increase in listening minutes
The 2020 edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge (WT20C) recorded 5.34 billion audience minutes in India, an increase of 2.45 times over the 2019 edition. No less than 105 million unique viewers have watched the three-team competition, up from 71 million last season. But even as the numbers proved women’s cricket growing in popularity, BCCI postponed the Indian women’s tour of Australia scheduled for January, which in fact means they haven’t played cricket since March 2020.

The summer when apartheid set English cricket on fire
Alan gardner Comments Barbed wire and cucumber sandwiches – a book that dates back 50 years and the protests against the 1970 South African tour of England.

Goodbye, Jackers
As a commentator, Robin Jackman, who passed away last week, gave viewers a sense of friendship both with the man talking to them and the game that was his craft. He will be missed, said Mark Nicholas.

The year in review
As the curtains fell on one of the strangest years in sport and life, the writers at ESPNcricinfo turned to take stock of 2020.
Sambit Bal says 2020 made us fall in love with cricket again. Mark Nicholas says it was a miracle that cricket happened and revisits the events of the year through the cricket matches it has played.

How did England, Ireland, Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand and women’s cricket fare this year? Find out in our first batch of team newsletters for the year. Our staff also chose their XI of the year. How well have you followed cricket in 2020? Take Steven lynchend of year quiz and find out.