The year in pictures
2020 in pictures
Australia stormed into the new year with a 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman trophy. It was Australia's fifth straight Test win in their home summer, and they had wrapped up every match in under four days. •Getty Images
David Warner became the fastest Australian to 5000 runs in the process of completely dismantling hosts India in the first of three ODIs. Warner and Aaron Finch's stand of 258 was also the highest partnership for any wicket against India, the duo barely breaking a sweat as they cantered to a ten-wicket win. •Associated Press
While the Bangladesh U-19 team was clinching the T20 World Cup, the senior team was in the throes of an innings defeat in their first Test against Pakistan. A four-for for Yasir Shah, and a hat-trick by Naseem Shah brought it home for the hosts, cheered on by a roaring, chanting, deliriously happy Rawalpindi crowd. •Associated Press
South Africa's young batsmen set up their only series win in 2020, in ODIs at home against England. Maiden hundreds from Heinrich Klaasen and Janneman Malan took them two up in the first two matches, but even Marnus Labuschange's maiden ODI hundred in his former home country couldn't save Australia from a 3-0 whitewash. •Associated Press
The Chappell-Hadlee trophy was moved behind closed doors in Australia as the Covid-19 pandemic intensified. Australia won the first match, in an hauntingly empty SCG, but the rest of the tour was called off. It would be the last international match to be played for months as cricket hit pause.•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images
Stuart Broad briefly considered retirement when he was axed from the first Test against West Indies in favour of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. Two weeks later he was the leading wicket-taker of the series with 16 scalps in two Tests, becoming only the seventh bowler to 500 career Test wickets. The ignominy of being his 500th victim went to Kraigg Brathwaite, also James Anderson's wicket No. 500. •Getty Images
England conceded a first-innings lead of 107 against Pakistan at Old Trafford, and were reduced to 117 for 5 chasing 277. It took a fighting sixth-wicket stand of 139 by Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler to take England over the line in a thrilling finish and deny Pakistan the chance to go one up in the series.•Getty Images
Australia clinched a thrilling ODI series in England. Going into the final game with scores level, England looked like they might saunter to an easy win as the Australian top order slumped to 73 for 5 in 17 overs in their chase of 303, but there was no getting past Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell whose twin tons and 212-run partnership from the sixth wicket handed the hosts their first bilateral ODI series defeat at home since 2015.•Getty Images
Zimbabwe's only win of the year, in any format, came in a tie in the last of three ODIs against Pakistan, in Rawalpindi. Blessing Muzarabani picked up five wickets in regulation time and two more in the Super Over.•AFP via Getty Images
The Delhi Capitals scrapped their way to a first IPL final but were blown away by a clinical Mumbai Indians who clinched their record fifth title. Much was riding on the Capitals' superhero Marcus Stoinis, but Trent Boult removed him with the very first ball of the match, followed by Ajinkya Rahane in his second over. The Capitals' final score 156 was easy pickings for Quinton de Kock and captain Rohit Sharma, who did the heavy lifting in the powerplay and saw them through to a comfortable win. •BCCI
Carnage at the Adelaide Oval where wreckers-in-chief Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins reduced India to their lowest ever total of 36 all out in the first Test. Not a single Indian batsmen made it to double figures. India found redemption in the next Test, though, beating Australia by eight wickets under Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy.•Getty Images
Vernon Philander's retirement gift is a hamstring strain in his last Test, scores of 4 and 10, and a 2-1 Test defeat at home, courtesy England, who took the series 3-1.•Christiaan Kotze/AFP via Getty
New Zealand's horror start to 2020 continued, this time with a 5-0 shellacking by India in T20Is at home - and, to really rub it in, with two Super Over losses. Kane Williamson cracked 95 from 48 in the third game, 25 of those off a Jasprit Bumrah over. New Zealand still lost. •Getty Images
Tim Southee and Trent Boult bring up New Zealand's 100th Test win by running through India and bowling them out for 191 in Wellington, setting New Zealand a target of just nine runs to get in the second innings. India would go on to lose the series 3-0.•AFP
Thailand women made their debut at the T20 World Cup and won nothing, but their joyous inaugural run made them one of the most popular teams of the tournament. •Getty Images
The Pakistan Super League was played in Pakistan for the first time, and got a rousing homecoming from adoring crowds. But the pandemic induced an early conclusion, forcing the tournament behind closed doors first, then then having the playoffs truncated and pushed to the later half of the year. The Karachi Kings took the eventual final in November•Pakistan Super League
Ireland won just one ODI this year, but they made it count, World Cup 2011 style. Chasing a massive 329 in Southampton against England, Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling's 200-run partnership took them most of the way there, then Bangalore hero Kevin O'Brien and Harry Tector took them home with seven wickets to spare. It was only Ireland's second win against the hosts, but it was also the highest completed chase by a visiting team in England. •PA Photos via Getty images
James Anderson dismissed Pakistan captain Azhar Ali ion the final afternoon of the third Test to become the first fast bowler to 600 Test wickets. The milestone came in his 156th Test. •Getty Images
In a bid to return women's cricket to some semblance of normalcy, West Indies women followed the men's team to England for a short, sharp T20I series but came away with nothing to show for it as they were whitewashed 5-0 by England women. Spin-bowling allrounder Sarah Glenn took seven wickets in the five games to become the player of the series. •Getty Images
Cricket lost one of its beloved commentators with the sudden passing of Dean Jones on September 24. Jones was in Mumbai as part of the IPL commentary panel when he suffered a stroke in his hotel. •Getty Images
The SLC defied the challenges of a pandemic year to put together the inaugural Lanka Premier League in a matter of months with the Thisara Perera-led Jaffna Stallions clinching their maiden title in a short but riveting tournament. •Jaffna Stallions
No other player had a better end of year than Kane Williamson though, who scored a career-best 251 against West Indies in early December, paused to welcome his first child - a baby girl - then returned to make 129 against Pakistan in the first innings at the Bay Oval, going past Virat Kohli and Steven Smith to close 2020 as the world's No. 1 Test batsman.•Getty Images
The Under-19 World Cup turned the drama up to 11 in a bitterly contested final. Yashasvi Jaiswal's 88 went in vain as India lost 7 for 21 and Bangladesh seemed like they might go the same way when six wickets fell for 52 before a rearguard by captain Akbar Ali took them to their first ever world title, at any level.•ICC via Getty
Ross Taylor began 2020 by becoming the first player to 100 matches in Tests, ODIs and T20s, and ended it as New Zealand's most capped player across formats, with 438 international appearance for his country.•Getty Images
A record crowd of 86,174 showed up at the MCG - the largest ever attendance at a women's sporting event in Australia - to watch the hosts clinch their fifth T20 World Cup title against fumbling India on International Women's Day. Beth Mooney finished as the leading run scorer of the match and the tournament, and had the party of a lifetime to remember it by, with pop star Katy Perry. •Getty Images
West Indies braved the pandemic and three weeks of isolation to travel to England in July to play the first international series since March, in a biosecure bubble. The team used the historic Test series to make a strong statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and it made their win in the first Test doubly poignant. But it would be the lone highlight for the Windies - it was the only Test they won of the five they played in the year. •Getty Images
After months of speculation, MS Dhoni called time on his international career with a quiet announcement on Instagram. Dhoni retired as India's most successful captain, the only one to lift all three ICC trophies - the 50-over and T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy. His deputy at the Chennai Super Kings, Suresh Raina, announced his own international retirement shortly after.•PTI
Kieron Pollard led an unbeaten Trinbago Knight Riders to an unprecedented fourth title in the Caribbean Premier League, held entirely behind closed doors in Trinidad and Tobago. Pollard's four-for limited the St Lucia Zouks to 154, then a century partnership between Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo sealed the deal for TKR with eight wickets to spare.•Getty Images
Amelia Kerr starred with bat and ball to break a 13-match losing streak for New Zealand women against Australia in the last of three T20Is in Brisbane. Kerr took 2 for 18 to limit the hosts to a mediocre 123, then staunched a batting collapse, picking the gaps and delivering the 25 runs needed to take her side over the line. Australia still won the series 2-1.•Getty Images
Rahul Tewatia produced one of the most memorable IPL innings ever, in the Rajasthan Royals' chase of 224 against the Kings XI Punjab. In the space of a few overs, Tewatia went from a struggling nine off 18 balls to smashing five sixes off a Sheldon Cottrell over to seal an impossible victory for his side.•BCCI
No one made more runs in T20Is this year than Mohammad Hafeez, who finished with 415 from ten matches, at an average of 83 and a strike rate of 152.57. KL Rahul was next on the list with 404 in 11 matches. •Getty Images