All three Test matches that took place over Boxing Day have all come to a conclusion. South Africa faced Pakistan in Centurion; Australia faced India in Melbourne and Zimbabwe and Afghanistan played their 1st of 2 Tests in Bulawayo. South Africa were playing their 1st Test against Pakistan. This was coming off Pakistan whitewashing the Proteas 3-0 in the ODI series. Despite this, hopes were high that South Africa would come out as the victors. A special incentive for a win would result in South Africa reaching the World Test Championship final in June. For Pakistan, they were in search for their first win in South Africa (Tests wise) for neary 18 years.
Local boy, Corbin Bosch, was making his Test debut in this Test. It would be a debut to remember. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pakistan started off well with an opening 36-run opening partnership. However, things took a drastic turn with Pakistan losing 4 wickets for 20 runs. Kamran Ghulam changed things around by scoring 54 off 71 balls. A 22-run last wicket partnership led to Pakistan being bowled out for 211. Dane Paterson took his second five wicket haul with figures of 5-61 and Corbin Bosch had figures of 4-63.
South Africa had an up and down first innings. Apart from Aiden Markram's 89 and Corbin Bosch's unbeaten 81, there were no real contributions. It took a combined 88 run partnership for the last two wickets that propelled South Africa to 301 all out - a lead of 90 runs. Khurram Shahzad (3-75) and Naseem Shah (3-92) were the key contributors with the ball.
Pakistan, in reply, made light work of the deficit. This was thanks to a Babar Azam 50 and Saud Shakeel scoring 84. However, a batting collapse that saw Pakistan losing 6 wickets for 84 runs led to them being bowled out for 237. Marco Jansen was the chief destroyer with figures of 6-52. This left South Africa a target of 148.
At first sight, the target seemed a piece of cake. However, that clearly wasn't the case. South Africa soon found themselves 19-3. A 43-run partnership between Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma steadied the ship and there was full belief that the two could lead South Africa to the finish line. That wasn't the case. There was a batting collapse that started with the unnecessary dismissal of Temba Bavuma. He was given out having nicked the ball to the wicketkeeper. However, replays show that it didn't hit the bat; the ball came off the pocket of his pants. He chose not to review. This led to South Africa losing 4 wickets for 3 runs.
The scoreline read 99-8. South Africa needed a further 49 runs while Pakistan needed 2 wickets. It was up to Marco Jansen and 'KG' Rabada to take South Africa home. Everyone, though, was fearing the worst. As time went on, the two, particularly Rabada, led South Africa home. It was Mohammad Abbas - who was playing his first Test in 3 years - who almost led Pakistan to the promise land as he had figures of 6-54.
South Africa won by 2 wickets. Aiden Markram was ajudicated as the man of the match for his scores of 89 and 37 in the first and second innings, respectively.
South Africa, as a result, have qualified for the World Test Championship final at Lord's (England) from 11 - 15 June.
The 2nd Test will take place in Cape Town, from 3 - 7 January.
Australia were playng India in the 4th Test of the series, which took place in Melbourne. The series was tied at 1-1. The big talking point coming into the Test was the inclusion of a 19-year-old Sam Konstas into the playing XI for Australia. Those doubts were soon wiped out upon his 1st innings performance.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. All eyes were on Sam Konstas. Soon enough, they were amazed by his batting. He was hitting every ball and scoring quickly. He was smashing boundries off Test No. 1 bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. He eventually departed for 60. Luckily, there were big contributions from other batsmen. Fellow opener, Usman Khawaja hit 57; Marnus Labuschagne scored 72; Steve Smith scored 140 and Pat Cummins scored 49. Australia were ultimately bowled out for 474. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-99.
India started off well, thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring 82. However, they found themselves in trouble with the scoreline reading 221-7. However, it was the 8th wicket partnership of 127 between Washington Sundar (50) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (114) that allowed India to avoid the follow-on. Reddy's century was an emotional one. His dad was in attendance to see it happen. India were bowled out for 369. Pat Cummins; Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon each took 3 wickets. Australia had a lead of 105.
Australia weren't as proficient with the bat in their 2nd innings as they were in their 1st innings. They were bowled out for 234. This was courtesy of Marnus Labuschagne scoring 70 and a 10th wicket partnership of 61 between Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland. Jasprit Bumrah took his 13th five wicket haul by taking 5-57. India were set a target of 340.
India didn't bat well. Their hopes were seemingly hung on Yashasvi Jaiswal. He eventually went out for 84. They then went through an epic collapse as they lost 6 wickets for 34 runs. They were bowled out for 155 - a loss by 184 runs. Pat Cummins and Scott Boland each took three wickets. The former was named man of the match as he took 6 wickets and scored 90 runs.
2024 hasn't been a banner year for India captain, Rohit Sharma. His batting average for the year is 10.93 after 15 innings and 8 matches. He has been dismissed for a single digit score on 10 of the 15 innings. As captain, he has suffered 5 losses in the year. This is the joint most for an Indian captain. Sachin Tendulkar also achieved this, in the 1999-2000 season.
The 5th and final Test will take place in Sydney, from 3 - 7 January.
Finally, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe hosted Afghanistan in their first Boxing Day Test match in 28 years. Their last one was way back in 1996, against England. This could be regarded as historic. There were a total of 6 debutants: AM Ghazanfar; Azmatullah Omarzai and Sediqullah Atal (Afghanistan) and Ben Curran; Newman Nyamhuri and Trevor Gwandu (Zimbabwe).
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first. Ben Curran must have gotten tips on Bazball by his brothers, Tom and Sam, because he hit 68 runs off 74 runs. There were three centurions in the innings: Sean Williams (154); Craig Ervine (104) and Brian Bennett (110*). They were eventually bowled out for 586. AM Ghazanfar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-127.
The highlight of the Afghan innings was the 364-run partnership between Rahmat Shah (234) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (246). The latter also shared a 211-run partnership with Afsar Zazai (113). Afghanistan had a collapse where they lost 7 wickets for 60 runs. They were eventually bowled out for 699. Brian Bennett was the star bowler with figures of 5-95.
Zimbabwe batted again and scored 142-4 before a draw was declared.
A number of records were broken. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi batted all day on day 3. In doing so, they faced 95 overs (570 balls). This is the third best out of all pairs that have batted together for an entire day.
There are now 5 players who turned their first two centuries into double tons: Wally Hammond; Rohan Kanhai; Zaheer Abbas; Vinod Kambli and Hashmatullah Shahidi.
At 21 years and 46 days old, Brian Bennett became the youngest to score a century and take five wickets in a Test match. The previous youngest was Bruce Taylor, who was 21 years and 236 days old in 1965 when he faced India at Eden Gardens (Kolkata).
The 2nd Test will take place in Bulawayo, again, from 2 - 6 January.