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‘Magic’ Pat Cummins rescues Australia in stunning response to Pakistan comeback

Pat Cummins, take a bow. The Aussie skipper has done it again, rescuing Australia with a piece of brilliance to flip the Test on its head.

Alex BlairAlex Blair
@alexblair_1
10 min read
December 27, 2023 - 8:09PM
Aussie stars drop on rain-affected Boxing Day Test

Pat Cummins was the man of the hour when Pakistan threatened to take day two of the Boxing Day Test by the throat.

The tourists were 6/194 at stumps and still trail by 124 runs after Cummins shifted the Test in Australia’s favour.

A brilliant caught-and-bowled to snag the breakthrough that sparked a massive collapse was the highlight of Cummins’ 3-37.

Cummins followed that up with an absolute peach that bowled Babar Azam in a vintage delivery that will go straight onto Cummins’ highlight reel.

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The scene was summed up best by former first class cricketer and broadcaster Trent Copeland.

“At this point he walks into the game, a world class operator the chance and a sniff of an opportunity, and this is what happens. He comes in, he takes a caught and bowled. This piece of magic turned the game,” Copeland said on Channel 7.

“It wasn’t only that moment that Pat Cummins turned the game. It was the caught and bowled and then he gets into his work. Then the opening is created for Pat to get into his groove.

“He hadn’t been at his best, he takes that first wicket and he gets Babar Azam where he wants him and knocks over the top of offstump for the second time.

“Then he is in ace groove. Now we are seeing that Pakistan are in big trouble. This is this guy, when you give him a sniff, he doesn’t miss.”

6.10pm - Stumps

It’s been a big day at the MCG with Pakistan showing signs of a big comeback in their first innings after taking seven Aussie wickets in the first session.

The visitors were much better in the field on day two and produced a few screamers, notably Mohammad Rizwan’s grab behind the stumps to dismiss Alex Carey.

Australia suffered a collapse to begin the day and weren’t able to get far past 300 before Pakistan rolled through. Mitchell Marsh showed glimpses of his best with some powerful hitting, and Marnus Labuschagne hit a dogged 63 to close out a lean year by the 29-year-old’s usual standards.

Pakistan skipper Shan Masood took matters into his own hands in the middle session and upped the scoring rate for Pakistan. The only way to get on top of Australia this series is to counter attack and the touring captain didn’t disappoint. He belted two sixes off Nathan Lyon and had his side at a comfortable position before disaster struck.

Pat Cummins was immense on day two.
Pat Cummins was immense on day two.

Abdullah Shafique was sent packing by a brilliant piece of work from Pat Cummins. With the day slipping out of their hands, the Aussie captain was able to deliver, forcing an uppish drive from the opener and catching it in a split second to send him on his way for 62.

He finished the day with the best figures of 3-37 from his 14 overs.

Masood had a blunder of his own shortly after and mishit a ball straight to Mitchell Marsh and the collapse began.

Cummins struck gold immediately after his caught-and-bowled, clean bowling Babar Azam for one.

Pakistan will enter day three at 6/194 and trailing by 124 runs. Mohammed Rizwan (29 not out) is their strongest hope of keeping the innings from collapsing and will have a big job to do tomorrow morning.

5.30pm - Cummins gets his third

Pat Cummins has struck again.

The Aussie captain rejoined the attack and had Agha Salman fishing for the drive. Salman flashed at one too many and snicked one through to Alex Carey for a regulation catch behind the stumps.

At six down, Pakistan look a shadow of what they were an hour ago when they were threatening to take day two away from Australia.

The lower order now has a mountain to climb to save face and keep the first innings score competitive.

5.12pm - Hazlewood joins the fun

Josh Hazlewood was arguably the best of the bowlers with the new ball but it took him a little while to get into the wickets.

He struck with a brilliant ball that took off the top of Saud Shakeel’s off stump.

The ball had started moving around earlier in the over and Hazlewood was able to capitalise and break into the tourists’ lower order.

4.58pm - Lyon gets the big wicket

Nathan Lyon dismissed Shan Masood soon after the Pakistani skipper brought up his fifty. Masood took the fight to Australia’s bowlers all innings, including two sixes off the Aussie spinner.

But Lyon had his measure in the end, tempting Masood into another big shot that he horribly mistimed and sent into the hands of Mitchell Marsh at point.

He fell for 54 and now Australia well and truly has the momentum in their favour again.

4.35pm - Cummins does it again

International teams have learned the hard way how destructive Babar Azam can be coming in at No. 4. But the Pakistani danger man had his stumps skittled by Pat Cummins in the over after his stunning catch.

Cummins pitched it just back of a length and had it nip back through the gate and into Azam’s castle.

The crowd have reignited after these wickets and Pakistan will have some work to do to keep this in check.

4.22pm - Cummins gets the crucial breakthrough

Just as Pakistan looked to be running away with the session, Pat Cummins dismissed Abdullah Shafique with a brilliant caught-and-bowled.

The Aussie skipper had his hands in all sorts as the Pakistani opener drilled a drive down the pitch. By some miracle, he held onto it and sent Shafique on his way for 62.

But there’s more on Australia’s plate now as star batsman Babar Azam strides to the crease.

Up the other bowling end, Mitchell Marsh has been getting the ball talking and almost had Shan Masood LBW in the next over.

The Pakistani captain immediately got on top the next ball with a crisp cover drive for four.

3.50pm - Pakistan making a statement at the MCG

Pakistan skipper Shan Masood has taken the fight to Nathan Lyon this afternoon, pumping the off-spinner for two sixes down the ground.

Lyon has looked near his best but the aggressive No. 3 has come into his own and has put his foot down to claim the session for Pakistan.

Abdullah Shafique has joined the action as well, bringing up his half-century with a brilliant shot for four through the off side.

“They are having a day out,” commentator Ian Smith said.

“This is thrilling to watch,” Wasim Akram said.

Australia is biting their fingernails as Pakistan make a stunning comeback statement at the MCG.
Australia is biting their fingernails as Pakistan make a stunning comeback statement at the MCG.

2.33pm - Lyon strikes!

Nathan Lyon has finally made a breakthrough. The Aussie off-spinner has been producing chances from the moment he was brought into the attack.

He was playing with Imam-ul-Haq’s outside edge until he eventually squirted one to Marnus Labuschagne in the slips. He fell for 10 after facing 44 deliveries.

Skipper Shan Masood has joined Abdullah Shafique at the crease.

2.10pm - Australia lose a review

Pat Cummins thought he had the first breakthrough after lunch with a ball that nipped back into Imam-ul-Haq’s pads. The Aussies went up in a huge appeal and decided to review the decision. Ball tracking showed the ball would have just skimmed over the bails and the opener was given a life on seven.

Nathan Lyon was brought into the attack in the next over and had Abdullah Shafique in some trouble from the get-go with a ball that deceived him and almost left him trapped LBW.

The umpire turned down the appeal and the Aussies thought against chancing another of their two remaining reviews.

Pakistan have done well to escape the bucketload of half-chances this innings. It is now their job to capitalise on their luck and build themselves into a commanding position on day two.

1.50pm - Pakistan’s openers dig in

Australia had the ball talking early after the lunch break but Pakistan’s opening pair Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq have persevered.

Josh Hazlewood has looked particularly dangerous, asking questions with every delivery as the ball nipped around.

12.30pm - Australia all out for 318

Pat Cummins tried launching Aamer Jamal over the square leg boundary but fished out Mir Hamza in the deep. Jamal has been the pick of the bowlers, snagging three so far.

Nathan Lyon knew it was time to move with the Aussies nine down and started swinging the bat against Hasan Ali. He got a lucky top edge away over the wicketkeeper’s head but fell on the next delivery.

Mir Hamza took another good catch in the deep to end the Aussie innings on 318.

Pakistan looked a lot better in the field today and owned the first session on day two, taking 7/131.

11.45am - Starc falls cheaply, Marsh tosses wicket away

The turmoil in the middle of the MCG continues for the Aussie with Mitchell Starc sent on his way after edging one to slip.

Mir Hamza dismissed Mitchell Marsh shortly after, with the Aussie all-rounder mis-timing a ball to backward point. Aamer Jamal did well to hold onto the awkward grab, and Marsh was sent on his way for 41.

Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins are at the crease now attempting to scrape Australia past the 300 mark.

It’s not yet clear if that will be enough to be comfortable until Pakistan bats.

11.30am - Pakistan taking control of Boxing Day Test

Australia are starting to crumble at the MCG with the pitch wreaking havoc on the batting lineup.

A gem of a delivery from Shaheen Afridi jagged back in on Alex Carey and caught his inside edge with Mohammad Rizwan claiming a top shelf catch as he dived to his right.

The wicket drops Australia to 6/260.

10.40am - Pakistan blow two DRS calls in two balls

The excitement of one early wicket went straight to the head of Pakistan’s bowlers with the team blowing two DRS decisions in back to back deliveries.

But it was also umpire Joel Wilson who came under fire after two howler decisions.

The first call slammed into the pads of Mitch Marsh with Wilson’s finger going up almost immediately.

Marsh sent it upstairs where hotspot showed it had caught an inside edge before going onto his pads.

The very next delivery a ball nipped back in between bat and pad with a noise ringing out. An instant appeal was once again met with Wilson’s finger being raised.

Replays rolled and showed the ball had missed Marsh’s bat and nicked the top of his front pad.

10.15am - Head sent packing in early disaster

Travis Head’s innings has come to an end after a peach of a delivery from Shaheen Afridi caught the edge of his bat and sailed into the hands of Salman Ali Agha.

Agha launched to his left at second slip and hauled in the brilliant diving catch to finish Head’s innings on only 17 runs.

Ricky Ponting was critical of Head for throwing his wicket away but praised Afridi for luring him into the bad shot.

“There is still enough there. You have to stay patient as a bowling group. We talk about patience with batting all the time, but it’s equally important for the bowlers. Stay patient, try and build pressure, keep yourself in the game,” Ponting said on 7’s coverage.

“If you go searching for wickets and you bowl a couple of bad balls an over, that’s all the best batsmen are looking for, looking for one little error ball an over that they can jump all over. That’s exactly what Travis Head does, if he gets the ball in the right area he’s a chance to get a catch behind the wicket.

“Well I said last ball of last over from Shaheen, if he just kept it up there and kept it swinging away that there’s a chance for a catch behind the wicket.

“There’s just a little bit of swing, he plays a long way away from his body and that’s an excellent catch. Right in the middle of the hands, high to his left, some reward finally for Shaheen Afridi.”

Marnus Labuschagne enjoyed a better start to the day, raising his bat for his half-century only moments later.

9.30am - Aussie struggles raise serious questions

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschange used to be the most reliable and dominant batsmen not only in Australia, but across the global cricket landscape.

But the two Aussies have failed to live up to their normal dominance which has raised concerns among cricket fans.

Smith was sent packing after only making 26 runs while Labuschagne will resume day two unbeaten on 44. But it was the sluggish start to Labuschagne’s innings that had former Australian keeper Adam Gilchrist and former English skipper Michael Vaghan worried.

It took the Queenslander 75 deliveries to find the boundary rope with his strike rate currently sitting on 36.67.

Steve Smith failed to fire. Pic: Michael Klein
Steve Smith failed to fire. Pic: Michael Klein

Gilchrist compared Labuschagne’s mentality to himself facing England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff in the United Kingdom 2005, and former Ashes rival Michael Vaughan agreed.

“He’s struggled to find his rhythm,” Vaughan said of Labuschagne’s batting this year.

“I’m not too sure if there’s been a technical change, or just mental.

“To me, he’s just trying to survive those channel deliveries.

“I get the sense with Marnus that he’s just thinking about survival.”

Labuschange has surpassed fifty runs only twice over his previous 14 innings while Smith has two half-centuries across his previous 10 innings.

While Smith has fared better than his compatriot, his average in 2023 of 41.85 sits well below his career average of 58.4.

9am - Pakistan star makes shock claim

Australia arguably hold the upper hand after the opening day, but that’s not the way Pakistan bowler Hasan Ali sees it.

The pace bowler stated after day one that it’s the tourists who are in the superior position having held the Aussies to only 187 runs.

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“We are a bit ahead of them right now,” he said at the post-match press conference.

“Honestly, it was a good day as a bowling unit. We are a bit unlucky we haven’t got enough wickets, but the best thing is we have not given them enough runs.

“We’re looking forward to tomorrow, and restricting them to the minimum possible score.”

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