Cricket Review

The year 2023 was a productive one for the game of cricket as expected to be in a year where there were three major events, World Cup, The Ashes and World Test Championship. The year was so action packed that it provided loads of entertainment. There were some unusual events as well like the first ever timed out in the history of the sport and another dismissal for obstructing the field.  The W...

As COVID had created havoc all around the world brining life to a standstill cricket wasn’t spared and 2022 was the first year since the pandemic the sport returned to normalcy. Spectators were allowed to come back to grounds in full capacity and bio security bubbles were on their way out. There were still restrictions as you had to carry a vaccine certificate and a negative Covid test, but the...

The year marked the sport bouncing back from the pandemic with several series that were postponed being played in 2021. Several cricketers were generous as well donating funds to COVID based charities while others helped in smaller ways distributing dry rations at a moment the world had come to a standstill due to the deadly pandemic.   There was one misfortune as the Women’s World Cup Qualifie...

Since the end of World War, cricket found itself in troubled waters with some series cancelled and some postponed for the following year due to the COVID pandemic. The biggest of them all was the T-20 World Cup, which was pushed back by a year due to logistical nightmares.  County Cricket in England and Ranji Trophy in India were also postponed while the IPL was pushed back by several months an...

The year 2019 was heavy on cricket and quite a bit of focus was on England as during the summer they were hosting not only the Ashes but the ICC Cricket World Cup too. England and Wales Cricket Board put on a show and both events were well attended and audiences grew by many folds.  The year started with India winning the Border – Gavaskar Trophy beating Australia 2-1 in their own backyard, the...

Test cricket that was reduced to ten members until 2018, saw the game being further expanded that year with Ireland and Afghanistan joining the elite teams. The sport was no longer restricted to handful of teams. It was the first time in almost two decades a new member had been granted Test status. For a change this time there were two members coming into the fold.  Ireland, of course, had been...

New Zealand travelled to South Africa with the hope of winning a first ever Test series in that country and they had reasons to believe that they could achieve the landmark win given the resources they had at their disposal. However, South Africa were too strong for them winning both Tests by innings margins.Cape Town is always a tricky toss to win. If you opt to bat first, you’ve got to negoti...

The year 2017 saw several Day-Night Test matches being played and it looked to be the trend for the longer format of the game. However, Day-Night Tests haven’t flourished for a variety of reasons although excellent spectator turnouts had promised good times ahead.A day-night Test match involving Zimbabwe and South Africa had been reduced to four days from its customary five days and the move wa...

The showpiece cricket event in 2016 was the T-20 World Cup that was held in India. Hosted across seven major cities with the participation of 16 teams, India put out a show with Calcutta’s iconic Eden Gardens hosting a splendid final.Hosts India had lot of momentum behind them leading up to the semi-final and were meeting West Indies, who had been blowing hot and cold having lost a group game t...

A World Cup year in cricket send all the focus into it and the 2015 edition of the sport’s showpiece event co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia was quite spectacular. Eventually, the two hosts turned up for the final witnessed by over 100,000 people at the MCG and won by Australia.This was the last World Cup that included more than ten teams. ICC’s decision to restrict the 2019 and 2023 event...

The year 2014 wasn’t the start English cricket wanted. They were routed 5-0 by Australia, who regained the Ashes and played some spectacular cricket. Problems were plenty for England. Not only did they surrender the little urn without much of a fight but the whole tour was doomed with many a setback.One of England’s premier batters Jonathan Trott pulled out of the contest midway through the tou...