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Australia has been so good in almost every format in 2023, they’ve won both ICC finals this year and along with that they’ve been so consistent in every field of the game. This year was a comeback year for Australia in longer formats. The Journey starts with hosting South Africa in January and ends with Hosting Pakistan in December, this shows that this year has been a very year for Aussies and still they’ve managed to dominate. Australia has played three bilateral test series in 2023 one ICC final and two tests of Benaud Qadir trophy.
Australia is performing consistently well except for India and somewhere in England there is no other team that could bother them in test cricket. In 2023 it was only India who beat Australia in a bilateral test series and the Ashes resulted in a Draw. Australia has won one series and the final of the ICC World Test Championship against India. Under the captaincy of Pat Cummins Australia has performed great in every format and won trophies. In this article, we’ll discuss in detail the Test performance of the Australian team.
South Africa vs Australia
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South Africa toured Australia at the end of 2022 and played two tests in December which Australia won but the one test which was played in 2023 January resulted in a draw. Australia won the series by 2-0 and it was the first test played by Australia in 2023. Steven Smith was the top scorer in that series and Pat Cummins with 12 wickets was the leading wicket-taker.
This win helped Australia cement their position in the WTC final until and unless they lose every single game against India. Australia has won the first test by 6 wickets with the help of Travis Head’s incredible 92 runs. After taking the lead Australia went on dominating in the second game and beat Proteas by an inning and 182 runs after the double century by David Warner. By the time South Africa came to its senses it was too late, in the third game the Proteas realized if they didn’t draw the last tes they were going to be swept by the Aussies, and in the end, they managed to do it. Usman Khawaja left five runs short of his double century and Steve Smith had scored a magnificent ton too in the last game. In those three test matches, there were no South African batters who scored a triple-digit score, Temba Bavuma with 185 runs was the leading score for the guests.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
In February-March, Australia toured India for the Border Gavaskar Trophy which includes four games. India was already a strong test team and playing at home makes them much stronger. Australia on the other side was escaping from the clean sweep and they’ve managed it. India has won the first two games comfortably and made sure that they’re not losing the series in the first place. After losing the first two games Australia’s troubles increased, To reach the final of WTC Australia had to win at least one game against India, but the way India was dominating Australia had to come stronger than before and they did. In the bowling-friendly surface of Indore’ground Aussies has managed to overpower India and won the game by nine wickets. Nathon Lyon with 11 wickets was the player of the game. In the final game, it’s going to decide if will India win the series or if it gets drawn. Australia fought well but they couldn’t win the game and it gets drawn. India won the BGT and it was confirmed that India and Australia are going to appear in the final of WTC. Despite losing the series Australian opener Usman Khawaja was the leading scorer in that series with 333 runs, and Nathan Lyon was the leading wicket-taker for Aussies with 22 wickets.
World Test Championship Final 2023
India and Australia being the table toppers have reached the final of WTC which was again going to happen in England. The first WTC final was held between India and New Zealand where India lost to the Kiwis it was the back-to-back second final for the Indian team and this time It’s mighty Australia in their way. Australia has the advantage of playing in the oval because they were practicing for weeks while India was busy in the IPL.
India never looked comfortable in that game, in the first inning Australia scored 469 runs hitting Indian bowlers at every corner of the ground. Travis Head with 163 and Steven Smith with 121 were the centurions in the first inning for Australia, Mohammad Siraj with four wickets was the only effective bowler from the Indian side. In reply, the Indian team looked in a shell while facing the Australian bowling lineup. Ajinkya Rahane(89) was the only player to score a half-century but that didn’t affect too much and India got all out at just 296 runs. With the lead of 173 Australia took the driving seat and scored another 270 runs. Now Indian batters have to chase a record 444 runs in the final inning to lift the mace of WTC. Nathon Lyon has again come in the way of India and picked four of them to register their first ICC World Test Championship win by 209 runs. Travis Head due to his inning of 163 was awarded as player of the match.
The Ashes
The most anticipated series for Kangaroos The Ashes took place just after the WTC final and England was the host this time. In the first two games, Australia overpowered England and defeated them with respectively two wickets and 43 runs. In the first game in the form opener, Usman Khawaja scored a century and a half-century, and in the second game, it was the experienced Steven Smith who made a century and helped Australia to win another game. Before they got on the backfoot England was back into their senses and managed to win the next game which was full of twists and turns. To win the Ashes England needs to win every game from here and Australia could clinch the series by winning just one of them, but another twist comes when the fourth test was washed off by rain and now only Australia could win the series if they could manage to overpower English team in the final game but that didn’t happen. Australia lost the final game by 49 runs and the series ended up in a draw. Usman Khawaja was again leading the scoreboard with 496 runs in 10 innings with an average of 49.60 and Mitchell Starc with 23 wickets was the top wicket-taker.
Benaud-Qadir Trophy
After the Ashes, four months went by without test cricket due to the ICC World Cup which was also won by Australia beating India in the Final. After a wonderful season of white ball cricket Australia is hosting Pakistan for three test matches two of them were played in December 2023 and both were won by Australia. It is also the last test series of Left Handed Opener David Warner. In the first game, Warner scored a century which led Australia to win the game by a big margin of 360 runs, and in the second game captain Pat Cummins picked a fifer in both innings which helped Australia to take an unbeatable lead against Pakistan. The third and final test is being played at Warner’s home ground Sydney.
Stats
Most runs
| Players | Matches | Runs | 100 |
| Usman Khawaja | 13 | 1210 | 3 |
| Steven Smith | 13 | 929 | 3 |
| Travis Head | 13 | 919 | 1 |
Most Wickets
| Players | Matches | Wickets | BBI |
| Nathan Lyon | 10 | 47 | 8/64 |
| Pat Cummins | 11 | 42 | 6/91 |
| Mitchell Starc | 9 | 38 | 7/71 |
