Even after Ollie Pope’s 196, England needed to defend only 231 at Hyderabad. Jack Leach, their senior spinner, had been ruled out. Tom Hartley, the debutant spinner, had been hit for sixes off the first and fifth balls of his Test career, in the first innings. Rehan Ahmed, the leg-spinner, was playing in his second Test.

England opened bowling with Joe Root, but got Hartley on soon. In a remarkable turnaround, Hartley claimed 7-62 – the best figures by an English spinner on debut since 1933 – to spin England to a 28-run win.

That was on January 28. Nine months down the line, the man has somehow fallen out of contention. While that is not rare, it is remarkable that even the spell is seldom talked about now.

That is because this is 2024, the greatest year in the history of Test cricket for visiting teams.

In another year, Hartley’s astonishing debut would have been one of the great events of the year. In 2024, it was not even the most memorable spell by a touring bowler on that day, for it came hours after Australia had been ShamarJoesphed at Brisbane.

We know the Joseph story by now, of how rapidly he rose and from where, about how the odds were stacked against him. That nine-run triumph was the West Indies’ first against Australia since 2003 and the first in Australia since 1996-97. It also helped them square the series – the first time they did not lose against Australia since 1998-99, and in Australia since 1992-93.

If the number of “first”s in the above paragraph might have made you dizzy, but they could not be helped. It has been a year like that.

But Joseph’s feat was not the only thing that took the sheen off Hartley’s spell. India did bounce back to take the series 4-1, but Hyderabad was only their fourth defeat at home since 2012-13. Yet, all that paled into insignificance when, across October and November, New Zealand did something unthinkable: having won only two Tests in the nation in history, they whitewashed India 3-0 in India.

Let us count the “first”s again. This was the first time New Zealand won three Tests in a series of any length anywhere, and the first time India were clean-swept in a home series of length three or more Tests. And yet, none of that tells the full story of the extremities of that series.

At Bengaluru, India were bowled out for 46, their lowest total at home. At Pune, Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets. Before the Test, Santner held the world record for most Test wickets without a four-wicket haul. And at Mumbai, India could not get 147 – the first time they failed to chase anything below 200 in the fourth innings at home.

An extreme series outcome of three extreme components.

In another year, it would have been the unquestionable upset of the year, but in 2024, it has a contender from the last two months. After never having beaten them, Bangladesh clean-swept Pakistan 2-0 in Pakistan. In the first Test, Pakistan had declared on 448-6 in the second evening. In the second, Bangladesh were 26-6 in the first innings. They turned around both matches.

All this pushed England’s wins at Hyderabad (or the more predictable one at Multan) into the background. There is also not much talk about India, who won at Cape Town and returned with their first drawn series in South Africa since 2010-11. This included bowling out the hosts for 55, the lowest by any side at home against India.

Another streak ended in 2024 as well, when Sri Lanka beat England at The Oval – albeit in a dead-rubber Test. There was South Africa’s 2-0 win in Bangladesh as well, the first by a “SENA” team since 2009-10.

Keeping all that in mind, Australia’s win in New Zealand or Sri Lanka’s in Bangladesh (both 2-0) were perhaps on predictable lines, as was South Africa’s in Providence. This has indeed been the greatest year in Test cricket for touring sides – and we are talking nearly a century and a half here.

A year like none other

We are not done with the year yet, but 2024 is already third on the list, with far fewer Tests than the first two. In terms of win percentage, only 2021 has been better, and that too marginally.

However, there is a reason (apart from recency, of course) for 2021 – the first full year after COVID-19 – not being remembered as vividly as 2024. Of the 18 wins that year, 10 were across Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and the West Indies. While Zimbabwe are not part of the WTC, the other two have occupied the bottom two spots for all three cycles of the tournament.

Not 2024. This time, teams have won away Tests, even series, against teams above them in the ongoing WTC cycle. Some have achieved historical firsts. And that does not even include Ireland’s maiden Test win, against Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi, for the table does not include neutral venues.

There are several reasons behind the increasing adaptability of teams. Cricketers are more familiar with overseas conditions. If they are not, there are analysts to equip them and team managements to replicate or simulate the conditions.

But perhaps most significantly, the WTC points system (12 for a win, four for a draw) have convinced home sides to prepare result-oriented, batter-unfriendly surfaces, thereby reducing the gap between the best bowlers and the level below them, between bowlers who have grown up in the conditions and ones with little experiences.

In 2024, bowlers have taken a wicket every 50.6 balls in away Tests. Since the First World War – we are talking more than a century here – the next-best strike rate for away Tests was 54.7, in 1936.

Remove the “away” restriction, and you can see that this had been in the making. While 2024 tops with 48.5, there are five WTC years in the top seven. Teams had been preparing surfaces to benefit the home side for some time now. It was only a matter of time before touring sides adapted.

Drawing a line

Are teams losing more overseas as well? The win-loss ratio for away sides (0.810) is lower than in 2021 (1.125 for reasons explained above) but is still a healthy number.

However, it is another variable that sets 2024 apart – the draws. On the above table, no other year comes remotely close to 2024 in terms of draw percentage.

With a cut-off of 10 Tests, no other calendar year has had fewer than three draws. And since 1970, the only year with fewer than three draws has been 2020, when the pandemic reduced the format to only 22 games.

There has been only one draw this year so far, at Port of Spain, where it rained so much that South Africa were into five overs of the third innings when the fifth day began. They set the hosts 298 in 72 overs. The hosts were 201-5 after 56.1 overs amidst serial appearances of the light-meter when the captains shook hands.

There used to be a time when drawing a Test match away from home was considered an achievement. After all, to do that, a team had to finish equal in conditions determined by the hosts. With the draw out of the equation, there was a possibility of touring teams wilting away in unfamiliar conditions. Instead, they stood up and won, scripting history and giving the fans one of the most memorable years in cricketing history.

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