Pat Cummins gives Australia a glimmer of hope after disastrous day with the bat
In one of the great MCG spells, Pat Cummins has given Australia a glimmer of hope and its battling batsmen must somehow find some fight when it's their turn to chasing what will be a huge Indian total.
Lion-hearted fast bowler Pat Cummins walked off the MCG exhausted on day three but full of hope his battling batsmen could find some fight to rescue the third Test against India.
In one of the great MCG spells Cummins, who has only spent 45 overs off the field through three days of play, tried to inspire his side with a stunning final session of bowling which had the most hopeful supporters asking “could they?”.
It was eight balls of magic that engaged every one of the 33,000 in the stadium as Cummins took four wickets, including Indian stalwarts Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kolhi, both for ducks and in identical fashion to raise local spirits.
When he got Ajinkya Rahane to glove one to skipper Tim Paine, Cummins was on a hat-trick. He didn’t get it but Cummins’ effort reduced India to 4-32 in the shadows of stumps.
Unfortunately the tourists were already 324 runs ahead after a limp batting effort from the Australians which echoed one of the darkest periods in recent history.
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That game sparked a flurry of on and off-field changes but Cummins, who said it “wasn’t ideal” to be bowling again so quickly after 170 first innings overs, was willing to “dare to dream” about an unlikely victory.
“Having them 5-50, the lead is just under 350, you never know. If we knock them over in the morning, you never know” Cummins said.
“The wicket is still very good. Last year we batted really well day four and five. You dare to dream. We’ll just try and take the game as deep as possible.”
Cummins did his best with a spell from nowhere. The Aussies toiled for two days to take just seven Indian wickets but the 25-year-old found something extra to bring a dull match to life.
"It took me a while to get going and just one of those things that everything seemed to work so I can't really remember another spell like that,” Cummins said
“I think that’s why we love Test cricket so much. Even (umpire Marais Erasmus) at square leg said “you never know what’s going to happen”. I certainly wasn’t expecting it. It was really pleasing.”
But the batting wasn’t.
Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah tore the Aussie line-up to bits, taking six wickets to help dismiss the home team in just over two sessions. Australia’s first innings lasted 191 minutes less than Pujara’s marathon 476 minute stay.
“Obviously it’s not ideal,” Cummins said.
“This morning (the bowlers) turned up all hoping we would have our feet up, and have a big dent in that first innings score and be on our way to being right in the game or taking the result away from them.
“It’s still a young batting group. You see them training for hours and hours trying to get better.”
On the first two days of the Test, a wicket fell once every 25 overs as India stonewalled. On day three a wicket fell just over every 24 minutes, 15 in all, but 10 of those were Australians.
After the Hobart debacle in 2016, then skipper Steve Smith said he was “embarrassed” about an effort which has returned to the spotlight this week via an interview with the now banned captain.
Smith recalled the fallout included then Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland storming in to the change rooms and telling the shocked players that “We don’t pay you to play, we pay you to win”.
A similar dressing room rant from new CA chief Kevin Roberts is unlikely, but pressure is on the Aussie batsmen to perform in the second dig.
“We are just not getting enough from the batsmen. It’s been going on for a while,” Test great Mark Waugh told Fox Cricket.
By day’s end the tourists, who chose to bat again after taking care of the Aussies, were 345 in front, with five wickets in hand, and only time, and some serious home side effort, was seemingly standing in their way of taking a 2-1 series lead to Sydney.
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Originally published as Pat Cummins gives Australia a glimmer of hope after disastrous day with the bat
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