England's repositioning, New Zealand's rollercoaster, Pakistan's shambles

Ben Stokes once claimed his captaincy role model was Brad Pitt's tank commander in the World War 2 film Fury .

But this was primarily a year of repositioning for England 's teams - red and white alike.

Test squad's major objective, victory in India , had gone south by the end of February .

England 's attitude stank during their dead-rubber loss to Sri Lanka at The Oval , particularly in a slap-happy second innings that opened the way for Pathum Nissanka's fourth -innings victory march.

Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan crashed out of their T20 World Cups at the first opportunity.

The men's greatest triumphs came in the second half of the year .

Sri Lanka fans can reflect on the year of cricket and mark it down as "mostly good" Sri Lanka's Asia Cup triumph was especially sweet for having come in front of an adoring crowd in Dambulla .

The Black Ferns pulled off the unthinkable unthinkable whitewash by securing their first Test victory in India .

New Zealand men's men failed to make it out of the group stage of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in June .

The women's women's side delivered New Zealand their first world T20 title in 2024 .