Ashes first Test: Pat Cummins proves he was worth the wait

Pat Cummins’ first home Test was a long time coming. So too his first wicket on these shores. They both were worth the wait.

Australian paceman Pat Cummins takes flight after trapping England captain Joe Root during the first day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba yesterday. Picture: AP

Pat Cummins’ first home Test was a long time coming. So too his first wicket on these shores. They both were, however, worth the wait. Having done that Cummins was not done. You don’t spend the best part of six years in traction for just one moment of glory.

The bowler’s second scalp came courtesy of a screaming, jagging ball that embedded itself into the front pad of England captain, Joe Root, and wrested back some of England’s hard-won advantage.

Playing his sixth Test, Cummins and his mates slogged away on a soft deck that offered nothing until the back end of the second session when the afternoon sun had hardened the surface.

In his 14th over, the 24-year-old jumped out wide and speared a ball through the defences of opener Mark Stoneman and into the top of the middle stump. A moment before England were 1-127 from 54 mostly fruitless overs and were wearing down the bowling attack.

When Cummins trapped Root (15) England found themselves 4-163 and Australia found themselves back in the Test match after a compelling, shifting first day. Dawid Malan (28no) and Moeen Ali (13no) did a marvellous job to get to stumps unmolested after the loss of their skipper.

Wicketkeeper Tim Paine watches in horror as he drops a catch. Picture: Getty Images

There were plenty of nerves before the start of play. Australia’s selectors breathed a sigh of relief when Shaun Marsh was passed fit to play yesterday morning, but found themselves tugging at their collar again when Tim Paine dropped a straightforward chance later in the afternoon.

“I am sure he would be very disappointed. He keeps pretty high standards,” Cummins said. “Hearing him speak to Hadds (fielding coach Brad Haddin) he was in a perfect position it just bounced a bit and didn’t stick but I thought he was outstanding today.”

Reputations were on the line when the pair were named in the side — and not just the cricketers’.

Marsh was a brave call given his stop-start career, age and constant battles with similar physical indispositions.

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The men who chose him are not completely off the hook. David Warner revealed in a lunch time interview that his stiff neck was being managed by pills and adrenaline, but his teammate had been given a “jab” to make it on the field.

It is hoped for all involved that Marsh’s treatment has not just kicked the can down the road and the 34-year-old can stay fit for this match and this series.

Paine came charging into the team from left field. Unable to hold his place in the Tasmanian side, he was granted one in the Australian XI on the basis he was the best gloveman in the country.

Having struggled all day to make a second breakthrough, Australia’s bowlers had built pressure and begun to produce some false shots late in the afternoon session. Nathan Lyon, who was brilliant all day, bowled one that caught the outside edge of James Vince’s bat at 3.46pm local time and it appeared all the hard work had finally paid a dividend ... only for Paine to fumble the opportunity.

Vince was 68 at the time but Paine’s pain was eased when Lyon ran out the Englishman after the break with just five more runs added to his score.

The Lyon run out was stunning. The sort of swoop and single action throw that only the best fielders pull off. The sort of intervention in events that can turn a match.

Something has come over the offspinner in the past 12 months. He returned from Sri Lanka broken by criticism but picked himself up, proved himself with outstanding performances in India and Bangladesh and is barely recognisable to those familiar with his former self.

There’s a touch of the Charles Atlas transformation about Lyon. A weakling who had sand kicked in his face, he has emerged with a disposition so muscular it is almost sexy. The little boy has become the hero of the beach. Chicks must surely dig him. He’s making offspin hot.

For most of the day Australia’s bowlers were in need of a wicket and it could be fairly argued that Kevin Mitchell’s passing out strip — as it presented in the first sessions — was not the wicket they were hoping for.

Two things conspired against the home side, one of them was the England pair of Vince and Stoneman, the other was the featherbed deck that provided little pace, seam or bounce, allowing England to establish a good early platform.

Root’s men have gone about their task during the past four weeks determined to make as small a target of themselves as possible. No grand statements on or off the field, a modest mob with a mostly modest record. Dubbed “horrendous” at their announcement by Kevin Pietersen, they came to Brisbane with no expectations.

Have Australia underestimated them? It’s hard to say, but if they have there was plenty of reason to.

Before their 125-run second-wicket partnership Vince and Stoneman had done little to suggest they would make life so difficult.

Stoneman scrapped around Sydney grade cricket for seven seasons at three different clubs. He played 111 matches in that time. At Bankstown and Campbelltown-Camden and St George. He averaged a modest 33.9 and made little impact.

At Campbelltown-Camden his coach was Neil D’Costa, a man who helped shape the early careers of Phillip Hughes and Michael Clarke. D’Costa said recently he thought the Englishman would “find it tough” in an Ashes series.

Stoneman has a fondness for Australians. He married one and he looked up to Durham opening partner Michael DiVenuto, whose number he took when the Tasmanian retired. When DiVenuto left his job as Australia’s batting coach and went to Surrey, Stoneman swapped counties.

Stoneman did not loom large on the English cricket radar for much of his career, he was not taken on Lions tours or earmarked for success, but at the age of 30 he made his debut for England. In his fourth Test he walked out to bat with Alastair Cook and remained out there when the veteran wandered back to the pavilion 16 balls later. He passed the 50 mark for the second time in his short career yesterday and passed his previous highest score (52) by one run before he was bowled by Cummins.