The traditional New Year's Tests were shifted from January 2 to January 3 this year and South Africa and England at Newlands and Australia and New Zealand at Sydney kickstarted international cricket in 2020. However, a series of bizarre events meant that England and New Zealand weren't at full strength for this Test match.

While England had Jofra Archer, Rory Burns and Jack Leach out injured, New Zealand had skipper Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls out. Trent Boult had already been ruled out of the Test match. With resources slim, New Zealand had to fly in Glenn Phillips at the last minute.

Tom Blundell had earlier replaced an out of form Jeet Raval at the top for New Zealand and had scored a century as opener at the MCG. England, meanwhile, had Burns ruled out of the entire series with an ankle injury. Jofra Archer had an elbow injury and was ruled out of the Test. Jack Leach had broken a thumb and Dom Bess was debuting.

All of the injury concerns for the two visiting sides - England and New Zealand - meant that a slew of replacements were in line to play. What was bizarre as the matches started was that the four teams had 10 keepers playing. Even considering an additional keeper qualified to play as a batsman, this was a rather whopping number of keepers.

New Zealand had BJ Watling behind the stumps, but also had Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips, who are keepers, playing in the same team. Tom Latham, their opening batsman at the top, is also an irregular wicket-keeper which means that New Zealand were fielding four keepers in the same match.

England, on the other hand, had Jos Buttler behind the stumps but replaced Jonny Bairstow with Ollie Pope. But it did not reduce the number of keepers in the team because Pope himself is a wicket-keeper although he doesn't always keep.

The hosts, Australia and South Africa, had three keepers in all with Australia having Matthew Wade in addition to Tim Paine. South Africa have just Quinton de Kock as keeper in their line-up.

If Jonny Bairstow had also played in addition to Ollie Pope, England might have fielded three keepers and the count of keepers in the day would have gone up to 10. But with nine wicket-keepers in two Test matches, international cricket in 2020 has gotten off to a resounding start.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Marco Longari

Australia’s newest batting star, Marnus Labuschagne started off the new year in the best way possible, as he smashed his first double-century in international cricket against New Zealand in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Labuschagne had come close to making his maiden double hundred twice in the preceding Test series against Pakistan late last year, making scores of 162 and 185 but had not been able to see it through. However, he did not let the opportunity go against the Kiwis.

Batting at no.3, Labuschagne walked in fairly early when Joe Burns fell early with the score at 39-1. He lost David Warner at the other end a while later but prevented any further damage when he was joined by the man he came on as a concussion substitute for in the Ashes, Steve Smith.

Read | Australia drop Glenn Maxwell, call-up Labuschagne for India ODIs

Along with Smith, Labuschagne put on a mammoth 156-run partnership for the third wicket as his senior partner scored 63. He then shared mini-partnerships with the following batsmen and they hung around long enough for Labuschagne to score his double-century, an innings that was laced with 19 fours and a six.

Labuschagne, who ended 2019 as the highest run-scorer in Test cricket in the calendar year, has been in tremendous form ever since coming on to bat in place of Steve Smith at the Ashes. His batting prowess was such that he broke into the ICC Top 10 rankings for batsmen and also ended the year in that list.

The no.3’s innings helped Australia to a big score of 454 in their first innings. In response, the New Zealand openers ended the second day on 63-0 as Tom Blundell and stand-in skipper, Tom Latham ensured that the Kiwis did not endure the batting collapse that has befallen them in the previous Tests.

Of course, Twitter was very appreciative of Labuschagne’s efforts, as it has been every time he has batted. Check 0ut some of the reactions:

HE'S GOT THE DOUBLE!

Amazing innings, Marnus Labuschagne! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/ZnXyPKrdOx

�?cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 4, 2020

Marnus Labuschagne’s Test batting average has just gone past Steve Smith’s #AUSvNZ

�?Adam Burnett (@AdamBurnett09) January 3, 2020

Marnus Labuschagne joins England's Wally Hammond (905) and Australia pair Neil Harvey (834) and Don Bradman (810 & 806) as the only batters to score 800 runs in a five-Test summer on Australian soil #AUSvNZ

�?Samuel Ferris (@samuelfez) January 4, 2020

Marnus Labuschagne has basically batted for the entire school holidays and I think it’s about time Mum or Dad stepped in.

�?Russell Jackson (@rustyjacko) January 4, 2020

�?Going past Steve Smith's Test batting average
�?Scoring his first Test double hundred
�?Closing in on 500 runs in this series

Marnus Labuschagne is having the time of his life!#AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/EgzUcdhDQr

�?ICC (@ICC) January 4, 2020

Most Test runs after first 22 innings...
2115 - Don Bradman (Aus)
1611 - Herbert Sutcliffe (Eng)
1520 - Everton Weekes (WI)
1408 - Arthur Morris (Aus)
1400 - Marnus Labuschagne (Aus)#AusvNZ

�?Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 4, 2020

From promising youngster waiting on the sidelines for a regular place in Australia’s paying XI less than 6 months back, Labuschagne has grown into a phenomenon!

�?Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) January 4, 2020

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Jeremy NG

When Pat Cummins had Henry Nicholls trapped in front on Saturday at the MCG, he was on a hat-trick, having picked up the wicket of Ross Taylor in the previous delivery. But there was something more significant about the Nicholls wicket. It was the first time Cummins was dismissing a batsman LBW in Tests since March 2018. 

The six lbws of Pat Cummins' Test career

Root: Brisbane, November 2017
Bairstow: Sydney, January 2018
Markram: Port Elizabeth, March 2018
du Plessis: Johannesburg, March 2018
de Kock: Johannesburg, March 2018
Nicholls: Melbourne, December 2019//t.co/ZNpidYw5Jh#AUSvNZ

�?Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket) December 28, 2019

Now, Cummins isn't just any fast bowler. He is the no.1 bowler in the ICC Test rankings as we write this with 898 rating points, with Kagiso Rabada at 839 points coming a distant second. In 2019, the Aussie seamer is by a large distance the highest wicket-taker with 59 scalps in 12 Test matches. 

Stuart Broad and Mitchell Starc, the second and third best, do not even have 50 wickets. Of Cummins' 59 wickets in the year, a whopping 81.35% are caught out (48 out of 59 of them) while 10 dismissals are bowled and the remaining one - that of Nicholls - is LBW.

In 2018, in the series against South Africa, Cummins dismissed Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock leg before wicket. But that's a rare anomaly to his general trend of not getting LBWs. 

Of Cummins' 139 Test wickets, 115 are caught out while 18 are bowled. Only 6 dismissals are batsmen trapped in front of the wicket. He picked up 70 wickets between his last LBW victim (de Kock) and this one (Nicholls), which is the fifth-highest between two LBW dismissals for any bowler.

Most consecutive Test wickets without an lbw:
JV Saunders (Aus) 79 1902-08 (his whole career)
PH Edmonds (Eng) 78 1978-86
AA Mallett (Aus) 70 1972-80
EJ Chatfield (NZ) 70 1983-86
PJ Cummins (Aus) 70 2018-19 (ended today)

�?Andrew Samson (@AWSStats) December 28, 2019

Three of the five are Australians, with Saunders completing a whole career with zero LBW victims. For a no 1 ranked Test bowler to go this long without a particular dismissal mode is super rare and it just goes on to show how impactful Cummins could be if he can bring the stumps more into play. 

Since his return to Test cricket in March 2017, only Nathan Lyon has more Test wickets than Cummins' tally of 132. The Australian has picked up wickets every 47th ball in a Test match on an average and has four five-wicket hauls in this time frame.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / William West

After an engaging week of cricket across formats, we have four teams battling it out in two marquee Test matches in Australia and South Africa respectively, starting Boxing Day (December 26) this week. For Nostragamus fantasy managers, this will be a tricky week with Test matches being the focus.

AIDEN MARKRAM

Country: South Africa

Match/Series:  South Africa vs England, Tests

Sure we know Aiden Markram is out of form. Sure we know he had a torrid time in India. But it's a home Test match for the Proteas and it's impossible to leave someone like Markram out. The opener has 1318 runs in 15 home Test matches since 2017 at an average of 48.81, the most runs by any South African at home in this time frame. With four hundreds and six fifties too, Markram is a great pick for this series despite his recent poor form away from home.

BEN STOKES

Country: England

Match/Series: South Africa vs England, Tests

Ben Stokes isn't just the in-form England batsman but also someone with an outstanding record in South Africa. Averaging 50+ and striking at over 100 in Test cricket in the Rainbow Nation, Stokes shot to limelight in his last tour with a blistering double hundred. As England get set to play the Boxing Day Test, Stokes will be a key player in their plans. His bowling abilities might also be banked upon more with England's premier pacers just coming out of a stomach bug.

BJ WATLING

Country: New Zealand

Match/Series: Australia v New Zealand, 2nd Test

Few wicket-keeper batsmen have made as much impact as BJ Watling in recent times. The New Zealand keeper has made scores of 1, 77, 105*, 205, 55, 8 and 40 in his last few Tests since August this year. From lower down the order Watling has been an irresistible force with his defiance and grit and we could see further evidence of the same in the Boxing Day Test match.

KAGISO RABADA

Country: South Africa

Match/Series:  South Africa vs England, Tests

Rabada is one of the leading fast bowlers in the world in Test cricket today and picking him in a Test match, particularly on tracks conducive to pace bowling should be a no-brainer. In home Tests since 2017, Rabada has 96 wickets in just 17 Test matches at an average of 17.6 with five five-wicket hauls. With a brutal strike rate of 32.4, Rabada is an all-time great in Tests and on a surface with pace and bounce, against a weak England batting group, he will be a handful.

MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE

Country: Australia

Australia v New Zealand, 2nd Test

With 1022 runs in 10 Test matches, Marnus Labuschagne is the only batsman at the moment with over a 1000 runs in Tests this year. Labuschagne averages 68.13 in the format in Tests this year and has three hundreds and six fiftes in 15 innings in the year. The middle-order batsman has taken Test cricket by storm and has scores of 185, 162, 143 and 50 in his last four outings in Test matches.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Peter Parks

It's that time of the year again when people around the globe celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year and we cricket fans are glued to the television sets because some of the most exciting Test matches take place this week starting from the Boxing Day Tests on 26th. This year, South Africa take on England while Australia take on New Zealand. 

South Africa's political turmoil and rift between the Cricket South Africa Board and players association has seen them overhauling their setup with the likes of Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis returning in key roles. This has headlined the news in South African cricket even as England land for a Test series, with the hosts at the bottom of the World Test Championship. 

Read | A detailed guide to the World Test Championship

England have had successful tours to the country recently and despite their poor form in the Ashes and in New Zealand in the Tests, the visitors are favourites given South Africa's obvious shortcomings.

Watch out for:

Kagiso Rabada - A wounded lion is pretty dangerous and South Africa are just that now. Armed with one of the most potent fast bowlers in the world, the Proteas are no pushovers. This premium pace bowler has 96 wickets in 17 Tests at an average of 17.61 and a strike rate of 32.4 in home Tests since 2017. In his last Test in the country, against Sri Lanka, Rabada took four for 38 in the first innings. 

New Zealand's away conundrum

New Zealand have become a force in Test cricket of late with their emphatic record in home Test matches. Having last lost a series in early 2017, New Zealand have registered important victories to climb up the ICC Test rankings but are on the verge of losing a series after the thumping they received at Perth last week. At Melbourne in the second Test of the series, New Zealand need to pull things back to maintain their recent run of form and ridicule the notion that they are home track bullies.

Watch out for:

Neil Wagner - Few Test bowlers in World cricket right now have the stamina and endurance of Neil Wagner. The left-arm seamer, known for delivering long spells under scorching heat, was in red hot form at Perth with his hit-the-deck bowling that had Australian batsmen in a tangle. His strike rate of 49.4 in Tests since 2017 is among the best for fast bowlers in this time frame. Wagner has 86 wickets in 18 Test matches at an average of 24.41 with five five-wicket hauls.

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Feature image courtesy: AFP / Money Sharma