2023 in pictures: Broad's farewell, Dhoni's repeat, Angelo's timing

Usman Khawaja began his year with a career-best 195 not out against South Africa in Sydney in the last match of a 2-0 series win. Khawaja's 2023 continued in the same vein, with a 180 against India in Ahmedabad and 141 against England at Edgbaston. He finished as 2023's most prolific Test batter, with over 1000 runs for the second consecutive calendar year.

A South Africa side made a senior World Cup final for the first time, in any format, when they beat England in the T20 World Cup semi-final. A thrilling final saw Australia narrowly edge out the hosts to take their third straight title, but the home crowd at Newlands vociferously cheered their side's tryst with history all the same.

The fastest bowler in the women's game announced that she intended to slow down and spend more time with her family after 16 years of international cricket. Shabnim Ismail retired with 191 ODI wickets, the second most after Jhulan Goswami, and 123 T20I wickets.

New Zealand made history as only the fourth team to win a Test after following on. They did it by a single run, on a dramatic final day in Wellington. A sixth-wicket stand between Ben Stokes and Joe Root almost took the game away, but Neil Wagner's short-ball assault and his final wicket, of James Anderson, sealed a famous win.

The inaugural Women's Premier League tournament delivered on its promise of high-octane games between the world's best cricketers, with Harmanpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians facing off against Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals in the final. Lanning was denied yet another feather in her captain's hat after Nat Sciver-Brunt won it for MI with a calm 60 not out.

In what would become a recurring theme in 2023, the IPL final played out over not one night but two soggy days. Rain washed out the first day completely, and threatened to derail the reserve day after Gujarat Titans' innings, but Ravindra Jadeja's last-ball four in the wee hours of the morning gave CSK their fifth IPL title. And MS Dhoni didn't retire.

Another year of Australia doing Australia things, picking up the World Test Championship mace, following it up by retaining the Ashes, and adding more silverware to their trophy cabinet later in the year. Captain Pat Cummins continued to mould the side in his image - quietly efficient but no less ruthless for the lack of snarling bravado.

It was an abysmal year for West Indies. They failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup for the first time in their history, after losing to Scotland in the qualifier in Zimbabwe. They won just two of five ODI series in the year, one against the UAE and another at home against a dispirited England newly off their World Cup drubbing.

The 2023 Ashes saw pitch invaders, MCC members banned from Lord's, and Alex Carey become a supervillain after his contentious stumping of Jonny Bairstow. Australia retained the urn after the series was drawn, but England claimed the moral victory, the more important win.

Pakistan briefly found their own Pakball moment against Sri Lanka in a two-Test series in which they clinically dismantled the hosts to secure two emphatic wins, breaking a 365-day winless streak. It would, however, be their only Test series win of the year.

Showman, aggressor, lynchpin, troll - one of English cricket's most distinctive characters called time on his 17-year career in the most Stuart Broad way imaginable, with a six off the final ball he faced, and a wicket off the last ball he bowled, to win England the fifth Ashes Test. Broad finished as England's second-highest wicket-taker, with 604 Test wickets, behind only best mate Jimmy Anderson, who didn't retire.

Sri Lanka Women claimed their first ever series victory over England Women in any format when they beat them 2-0 in England in the T20I series in September. Earlier in July they'd beaten New Zealand for the first time in an ODI series at home. Captain Chamari Athapaththu was the catalyst for both these wins, making two hundreds in the latter, and later in the year going on to light up the WBBL and pick up the Player-of-the-Tournament trophy.

India's men's and women's sides struck gold at the Asian Games, though the men's final was washed out and India won over Afghanistan on account of being the higher-seeded side. The women's final was more competitive, with Sri Lanka restricting India to 116, but Titas Sadhu's 3 for 6 in the powerplay hobbled Sri Lanka, who didn't recover.

After much grumbling and shuffling of venues, the Asia Cup was finally played across Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where more time was spent poring over weather reports than match-ups. Nepal qualified for the first time and Afghanistan botched their math and missed qualifying for the Super Four. India bowled Sri Lanka out for 50 in the final, but the real winners were the ground staff they met along the way.

Afghanistan cemented their move from plucky upstarts to contenders in the ODI World Cup by defeating England, then Pakistan, and rounding it up with wins against Sri Lanka and Netherlands. Their wins against England and Pakistan were their first ever in ODIs against those sides.

For all of England's Bazball heroics last year, none of that stardust rubbed off on the white-ball side, which put up possibly the most dismal defence of a World Cup title in the history of the game. England came in as favourites, then proceeded to lose games against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, and copped an almighty walloping by South Africa. They won just 11 of 24 ODIs in the year, and just four of the 12 T20Is they played.

Angelo Mathews became the first batter ever to be dismissed timed out in international cricket after a helmet malfunction in the game against Bangladesh in the World Cup prevented him from taking strike on time. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan's decision to initiate the appeal caused no small drama, and to add insult to injury, Bangladesh went on to win the game as well.

Having beaten England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Afghanistan looked set to also thump Australia after they left them reeling at 91 for 7 chasing 292. And they would have too, if it wasn't for a scarcely believable innings from Glenn Maxwell. Battling full-body cramps and unable to move, Maxwell slammed a hundred, then added another to carry Australia over the line with three overs to spare. No other Australia batter went past 25.

Meg Lanning announced her shock retirement, at age 31, in November after a series of absences from the game for personal reasons, despite having led the side to another T20 World Cup title earlier in the year. The seven-time World Cup winner - five as captain - signed off as the leading Australian run-getter in women's international cricket, with the most hundreds and the most wins across formats.

Virat Kohli came roaring back into form in 2023, capping a year in which he was the second highest run-scorer in ODIs (1377 runs) with two incredible milestones. He first drew level with Sachin Tendulkar as the batter with the most ODI hundreds, getting his 49th in the World Cup game against South Africa, then went past it with his 50th, against New Zealand in the semi-final. He was also the World Cup's top run-getter, with 765 runs in 11 games - a tournament record.

A seemingly invincible India trounced every single team on their way to a home World Cup final, by comprehensive margins - they beat Sri Lanka by 302 runs, then South Africa by 243. But at the last hurdle, they stumbled against old foes Australia, who claimed their sixth World Cup title on the back of a magnificent 137 by Travis Head.

Pakistan Women beat New Zealand Women in a T20I match for the first time, then turned it into a series victory by doing it again, in Dunedin. It was their first overseas victory outside Asia and Ireland. Earlier, in September, they'd also swept South Africa Women 3-0 in a T20I series at home.

Deepti Sharma's match haul of nine wickets, including 5 for 7 in the first innings, was the highlight of India Women's historic Test win over England Women by the largest ever margin, 347 runs. Deepti scored 67 and then spun England out for 136, while Pooja Vastrakar triggered a collapse in the second. It was India Women's first Test victory at home against England Women.

New Zealand were bowled out for 98 by Bangladesh in the third ODI, in Napier, their lowest ever total against the visitors. Seamers Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Soumya Sarkar picked three wickets each to skittle the hosts in under 32 overs, and got to their target of 99 in just 15. It was Bangladesh's first ODI win against New Zealand in New Zealand.