The cunning Pat Cummins trick that won epic Boxing Day Test - and saved the legacy of this playing group
Australia’s epic Boxing Day victory will stand as one of Pat Cummins’ greatest achievements, starching what would have been a stain on several of his teammates’ careers with a cunning day five ploy.
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This epic victory will stand as one of Pat Cummins’ greatest achievements and a gold stud in the careers of a group of players who grew from boys to men together.
This Australian team is not perfect but they are gutsy. When cornered they can occasionally conjure great things like this never-to-be-forgotten MCG classic.
Long live Test cricket. Hats off to five-day Tests. The true beauty of this match was as much its majestically swaying rhythms as the result.
The generation of senior players in this Australian team would never have felt at peace with their careers if they lost three home series in a row to India which would have perpetually stamped them as a good team but not a great one.
At 2-1 up with Sydney to play they are at last primed to get their heart’s desire and snatch back the elusive Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India were cruising towards a sleepy draw then lost 7-34 in the last session.
It all started with the most simple thimble and pea trick to open the bowling with Travis Head’s unpretentious finger spin which made keeper Rishabh Pant abandon his calculated resistance to smack an outfield catch that will now feature in his every nightmare.
Only a tight team could conjure seven wickets in a session the way Australia did in an afternoon of pure madness, spicy controversy, shock twists and a victory that seemed a pipe dream when India were three down at tea.
When Cummins was made Test captain there were two conflicting theories as to how he would go – one said he might be overburdened, the other was that the role would drive him to fresh heights.
And so it has proved. Because of his amiable, unflappable nature Cummins often never gets the credit for being one of the game’s greatest warriors.
When Cummins is in trouble he knows who to turn to - himself.
In this match he chipped in with two innings of 49 and 41 and three wickets in each innings including the first two of the innings when he outfoxed Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
This win was one of the great team efforts with every man doing something of significance from youngster Sam Konstas being the pep pill the top order needed to Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith getting hot again. Head failed with the bat but snaring the crucial wicket that started the collapse.
What a game. It was a such delicious theatre on the last day with eight fieldsmen around the bat that there were times as if we were watching one of those old black and white news reels from Tests in the 1960s.
Winning this Test puts a band aid on Australia’s problems and made India’s wounds wider than they were.
Their captain Rohit Sharma is horrendously out of form but will probably stay for Sydney which could be his last Test.
That’s unless India strike back and win. In this series, you never know.
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Originally published as The cunning Pat Cummins trick that won epic Boxing Day Test - and saved the legacy of this playing group
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