Cricket review 2023: Australia's dominance, India's heartbreak and chaos in Pakistan

Cricket in 2023 was in many ways reassuring. As the world around us evolved at breakneck speed, a return to the "routine" had its own charm.

We know Australia are a world-class team. Always were, and probably always will be. In 2023, the Aussies conquered cricket.

They started their victory march in the World Test Championship final against India in London, under the leadership of Pat Cummins – and that was not even the best part of the year for the team or captain.

In July, Australia put up the first major challenge to England’s "Bazball" cricket in Test matches, retaining the urn with a 2-2 draw. England’s new-found brand of all-attack cricket worked until they faced a quality side on non-flat pitches.

The Aussies were not done yet. The ODI World Cup in India was going to be a whole new set of challenges, as most teams had almost forgotten about the format, focusing on T20s, leagues and the T20 World Cup that comes about every two years.

The Aussies lost the ODI series in South Africa in the build-up to the World Cup after taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. They lost three matches on the bounce by over 100 runs. And Cummins was going to lead the team in the World Cup having captained the side in just four ODIs.

At the World Cup, Australia started poorly, losing the first two matches to India and South Africa.

They waited on opener Travis Head to recover from his hand injury, bringing him in halfway through the tournament. And what a masterstroke that was as Head smashed 109 off 67 balls against the Kiwis, almost straight off the nets with hardly any practice.

Australia kept finding players to bail them out from tight situations at the World Cup. Against Afghanistan in Mumbai, the team in green and gold were