2018 saw 3 significant Test series away wins, but which was the best?

[Varun]

England in Sri Lanka
New Zealand in Pakistan
India in Australia

All 3 conditions were alien to the opposing team, and in this era of home track bullying is it just the law of averages catching up, or the revert to an era where away test series wins will become more commonplace?

 

[holldout]

Certainly significant , but with a caveat that the three home teams perhaps are at their lowest point in recent cricketing history!

 

[JibranAnsari]

Its no easy feat winning in australia , congratulations india.

NZ too played wonderfully but it was pakistan who handed it over to them mostly.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

England in Sri Lanka
New Zealand in Pakistan
India in Australia

All 3 conditions were alien to the opposing team, and in this era of home track bullying is it just the law of averages catching up, or the revert to an era where away test series wins will become more commonplace?

Its a combination of things. Those are the top 3 test teams going around. The opposition were weak especially in the case of SL who are almost minnows now. All the test matches won by the respective teams were those in which they won tosses and batted first.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Its a combination of things. Those are the top 3 test teams going around. The opposition were weak especially in the case of SL who are almost minnows now. All the test matches won by the respective teams were those in which they won tosses and batted first.

SL is no minnow. Drew a test in NZ and India, whitewashed Pakistan away, and destroyed SA at home.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

SL is no minnow. Drew a test in NZ and India, whitewashed Pakistan away, and destroyed SA at home.

All drawn tests by Sl were weather influenced. They have lost too many series at home to be taken seriously. 2-1 to India , 2-1 to PAK, 3-0 to India and England. Also away they couldnt even beat Windies I think.

 

[Sachin136]

Shows how teams are weak even at home now. Credit to India for maintaining their fortress, with an insane win % at home and in Asia.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Good to see regardless of the circumstances.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Shows how teams are weak even at home now. Credit to India for maintaining their fortress, with an insane win % at home and in Asia.

You just made a counter argument before arguing your point.

 

[hadi123]

Very good spot. And I think it's worth noting that the toss played a huge role. In the Pak vs NZ series, NZ won the games they won the toss and the game Pakistan won, they won the toss.

England won the toss in all 3 games in SL.

Australia won the toss in the one game they won against India, India won the other tosses.

Conclusion: Unless there's a huge difference in quality between the home and away side, toss can be as big of a factor as home advantage. Obviously this Pakistan team is ranked 6th/7th and SA are ranked very highly AND are at home so toss wouldn't make a big difference here, as Pakistan won the toss in the 1st game and still got beaten badly.

 

[Aman]

We were fortunate to play a team in transition, still rate our drawn series against Pak higher.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

We were fortunate to play a team in transition, still rate our drawn series against Pak higher.

Sri Lanka too is in transition while Australia was without it's two best players.

Given how no other SENA team has won a series in UAE, this was a special effort by Williamson & co but 2014 performance might be better as our batting was strong back then . All these 3 series are equally good in their own ways.

 

[hadi123]

We were fortunate to play a team in transition, still rate our drawn series against Pak higher.

Really? That's surprising. Don't think many would agree. I think that 1-1 series was overshadowed by Phil Hughes' death, that 3rd Test match was played in a very sombre atmosphere as he died midway through the match, play was suspended the day he died as you may recall, and after that, there was hardly any celebration or emotion shown in the game. This Pakistan team is still not a rollover in UAE conditions, especially for a non-Asian team, so NZ would have been delighted winning the series.

 

[Amjid Javed]

All 3 home teams are very weak now so home defeats for those who know enough about the game shouldnt be surprised.

 

[Slog]

We were fortunate to play a team in transition, still rate our drawn series against Pak higher.

Really? That's surprising. Don't think many would agree. I think that 1-1 series was overshadowed by Phil Hughes' death, that 3rd Test match was played in a very sombre atmosphere as he died midway through the match, play was suspended the day he died as you may recall, and after that, there was hardly any celebration or emotion shown in the game. This Pakistan team is still not a rollover in UAE conditions, especially for a non-Asian team, so NZ would have been delighted winning the series.

Yea but the players are professionals and that Pakistani team was as strong a Pakistan team had ever been in ‘home.’

And this was following the phainta delivered to the Aussies in one of the most one sided series ever

 

[hadi123]

Yea but the players are professionals and that Pakistani team was as strong a Pakistan team had ever been in ‘home.’

And this was following the phainta delivered to the Aussies in one of the most one sided series ever

True, but I'd still take an away series win against a weaker team than an away series draw against the same country but with a stronger team.

 

[Saj]

Poll added.

 

[hadi123]

My vote went to the NZ win in UAE. Australia vs India - India were probably slight favourites, that's how weak the current Australian team is so I think they would have been disappointed even with a series draw, let alone a loss. Obviously they still deserve credit but I think NZ's win is Pakistan is probably the best and most surprising. Pakistan in UAE are still a solid team on paper, especially as they had been dominant going into the series, having beaten Australia 3-0 in T20I's and 1-0 in Tests and beating NZ 3-0 in T20I's and drawing ODI series with them, so Pakistan's morale must have been high.

I think what makes the win even more satisfying for NZ is that in both the games they won, there were moments in the game where they were actually behind the 8 ball. In the First test they were behind for basically all of the match until the last day where we saw a spectular batting collapse. In the third test also when Shafiq and Azhar Ali got that huge partnership, the game could have slipped but they never gave up and sparked yet another collapse. So I'm sure NZ's away win in Pakistan was probably the result of 2018.

 

[Varun]

Yep, I voted for NZ to.

 

[happydavy]

NZ victory against Pakistan takes the cake because in 2 out of 3 matches, they won from hopeless situations. NZ as a team doesn't get too much cricket media but the series win and Williamson's performance should go down in history as one of the most significant accomplishments.

 

[Ab Fan]

India's victory vs Aus for me. A series win in Australia by an Asian team is one of the most memorable thing a team can have. Yes, it was not a strong team but still if we look at Pakistan team in UAE, I haven't seen a more terrible Pakistan team than that.

So, Australia with their bowlers were clearly bigger challenge than Pak in UAE. This doesn't diminishes NZ achievement. A great one and Williamson's inning was the inning of 2018 for me but test series win in Australia is what takes the cake for me. It is a really huge huge achievement and you had two big countries- India and Australia involved in it.

 

[BD-fan]

Just as the poll was setup.
Ind vs Aus
then
NZ vs Pak
and then
Eng vs SL.

 

[Aman]

India in Aus.

We were gifted the first match.

 

[CricFan2012]

How can anyone vote for NZs win?

Anyone knew that we would massively struggle going into the year without UAE tigers Misbah and Younis.

We lost to West Indies of all teams in the UAE..

Even though this is a mediocre Aussie side, India did well, and became the first team to win there.

 

[hadi123]

How can anyone vote for NZs win?

Anyone knew that we would massively struggle going into the year without UAE tigers Misbah and Younis.

We lost to West Indies of all teams in the UAE..

Even though this is a mediocre Aussie side, India did well, and became the first team to win there.

Because an Asian team in their own conditions is always a different kettle of fish. And NZ hadn't played much cricket as a unit for a while up till that tour, and Pakistan's morale would have been high as we won the previous test series against Australia and drew in England 1-1 too. On top of that won the T20I series against both Aus and NZ 3-0 so our morale would have been high. We still have on paper a side that really should be winning in UAE, and I'm still disgusted that we lost this series