Captain Pat Cummins made the most of winter eye surgery to save Australia’s blushes by guiding them home against Pakistan on the opening night of the men’s international season.
Australia were very nearly rumbled by Pakistani speedster Haris Rauf before Cummins (32 not out) reprised some of his calming World Cup innings from last year’s campaign to scramble to a two-wicket victory at an unexpectedly raucous MCG.
Cummins had the laser procedure in the off-season after his return home from the Major League Cricket tournament in the United States, part of an extended break that also gave him time to bulk up in the gym.
The crowd of 25,831 was dominated by Pakistan supporters, who helped comprise the biggest ever attendance for an ODI at the ground in November.
Pat Cummins takes Australia home.Credit: Getty Images
Cricket Australia started the summer in Melbourne, rather than the warmer northern venues, partly because the MCG’s drop-in pitch is ready for cricket earlier than the natural wicket blocks of the SCG and the Gabba.
David Warner was in the commentary box for Fox Cricket, and made his presence felt with a frank technical assessment of his former opening partner Cameron Bancroft.
“We know what Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft bring to the table. They have been around. Unfortunately, they haven’t put the numbers on the board,” he said.
“With both, I think they are still making the same mistakes. There is no air speed at the moment in Shield cricket and, unfortunately, you are playing at venues as well that don’t bounce,” Warner said.
“With Cameron Bancroft, his foot is still out to point. If someone is bowling 140, 145km/h, he is still going to make the same mistakes. In my eyes, it’s about his front foot being pointed out to point, and when there is faster air speed, so the bowlers are bowling faster, he is going to get rolled through LBW or get caught in the slips cordon. And he had that trouble when playing for Australia.”
Chasing a modest 204 after Mitchell Starc (3-33) and Cummins (2-39) made the most of a fresh pitch, the Australians were genuinely challenged by Rauf’s pace and steep bounce in a fashion that will hearten Jasprit Bumrah and company ahead of India’s Test series.
As Steve Smith purred to 44 and Josh Inglis played with the Bazball swagger of his Yorkshire heritage, the Australians looked headed for a straightforward win.
But that was to reckon without Rauf (3-65), who summoned a spell of high pace and tremendous heart to pick up Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell with consecutive balls that reared off the early-season surface.
For Maxwell, a first ODI innings at the MCG since January 2019 was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brief, bringing Pakistani supporters to thrilling life while they rode Rauf’s every delivery. Left-armer Shaheen Afridi (2-43) also put in a sturdy shift.
Sean Abbott denied Rauf what would have been his second hat-trick at the MCG - he has also taken one here for the Melbourne Stars - but the force with which the delivery was hurled down had the fast bowler sprawled on the pitch from his effort.
Aaron Hardie was bowled trying to make room to force through the off side, leaving Cummins to do the mopping up work with Abbott and Starc. They were aided by swift scoring in the early overs that made the run rate less of an issue than the preservation of wickets.
Their salvage operation was required because neither Smith nor Inglis were able to go on from a pair of smooth cameos. Smith has found some semblance of touch with a couple of white ball innings for New South Wales and Australia, but was kicking himself when he cut Rauf straight to Saim Ayub at backward point.
Inglis took the game on in the way that has made him Australia’s leading white ball wicketkeeper. He is also a contender for a middle order berth in the Test team should one become available this summer or beyond.
“There’s no doubt that the form is really fantastic at the moment … the ability to jump back into domestic cricket and dominate has been fantastic,” selection chair George Bailey has said of Inglis.
“I think in different series at different times of the year, he would firmly come into the mix purely as a batter the way he’s been going. “If the right opportunity opened up throughout the summer, in the spots where we think he’s most capable of performing, I think he’d be firmly in that conversation as well.“
Starc’s quality was on display from the first over on Melbourne Cup Eve, swinging the ball one way and seaming it the other after Cummins won the toss.
Ayub, touted as one of Pakistan’s best young batting talents in years, was well beaten on the inside edge, while Abdullah Shafique was unable to get out of the way of a short ball and touched a catch behind.
Babar Azam was playing his first match since being unceremoniously dropped from the Test side and provided the most attractive shots of the afternoon. Skipper Mohammad Rizwan battled his way to 44 before gifting his wicket to Labuschagne.
Afridi and Naseem Shah swung freely to add some ballast to Pakistan’s innings. But a tally of 203 was around 50 runs short of par, even allowing for Rauf’s heroics and the din created by his countrymen.
