Pat Cummins became the first Australian bowler this series to take five wickets in an innings as the m,oribund series against pakistan explode dinto life late on day three of the third Test.
After 13 days of mostly dull cricket, Cummins (5-56) and Mitchell Starc (4-33) reduced the home team to rubbleas they took the final 7-20 and the last 5-4.
Australia finished day three on 0-11 with a lead of 134.
Paksitan were well placed at 3-248 in reply to Australia’s first innings 391 before Starc started the incredible rout.
He bowled Fawad Alam with a beauty that cut through the gap of bat and pad and Pakistan’s batsmen lost the plot to some brilliant good length reverse swing.
Starc followed up the Alam wicket by bowling Mohammad Rizwan for one before Cummins had Sajid Khan playing on. Cummins trapped Nauman Ali in front for a duck and Hasan Ali edged him behind for another nought.
Earlier, Azhar Ali (78) drove Cummins hard down the ground but the captain removed him with a classic catch.
“That was absolutely sensational, Pat Cummins, a remarkable catch,” Mike Haysman said in commentary.
“He is extraordinary the way he is able to just keep coming,” said Robert Key. “He never lets up, every single ball.
“He’s been an inspired choice as captain.”
“Pakistan looked like they were setting in their nicely but Australia toiled hard, they hung in there just long enough and that second new ball with the reverse, a 123 run [first innings] lead is a big advantage,” Katich said.
Katich said Cummins’ performance was “what you needed from a captain. There was not much happening in this series , on these wickets, then he stood up today, got that magnificent caught and bowled, big wicket of Azhar Ali and that’s changed the dimension of this Test.”
Cummins said the team had done a lot of work on their bowling length coming into the Test and they had executed well, while Katich noted the key was they didn’t bowl too full.
“Yes, they pitched the ball up at times but those wickets , a lot were top of the stump length and that’s hard for the batsmen when it starts to reverse, they get caught on the crease and we saw a number of bowleds in the last session.”
The blur of falling wickets has opened the match and series wide open for Australia.
“We know if Dave Warner gets going he’ll like to score quickly,” Katich said. “That’s something that will put pressure on this Pakistan team. They know there’s lots to play for and a lot of hard work to be done.”
Cummins said he felt the team had bowled well in the first two sessions without due reward.
“The message at tea was hang in there. We saw in our batting things can happen quickly, especially when the ball’s reversing.
“We got that breakthrough through Starcy and things sped up.”
He said the focus on the bowling length had been two fold. “The first one to maintain the scoring rate and that’s where we feel where the most opportunities present themselves on this wicket – there’s not a lot of bounce so we thought we could hit that seven, eight metre length and still hit the top of the stumps.”
Cummins said everything happened too fast for him to consider his plans for the next two days in terms of a declaration, but added: “We’ve given ourselves a big opportunity.”
Cummins also paid tribute to Starc’s efforts.
“I’ve got the luckiest job in the world playing alongside someone like Starcy at the other end or Nath Lyon. It’s awesome, as captain I feel there so many options of who to throw the ball to.”
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
If the cheque clears.... :silly:
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I hadn’t seen that one, but did come across this article a while back (by Once Uponna’s favourite, Charles Davis) that looked at dropped chances in the 10-15 years leading up to 2016. Smith not mentioned there. Graeme Smith got best rate of dropped chances. But article notes that chances for keepers can be misleading - Dhoni had a worse rate of drops than some, but probably because he had more chances off spinners. Interesting to note that 36% of all stumping chances missed, and 47% of caught and bowled. He counted total missed chances from old scorebooks and found rate had improved from around 30% 100 years ago to 25% (which sounds high?).
Sedz
Guest
I'd like to know how good was Dravid or Laxman. Even though Sachin was better athlete than these two and he runs bettter b/w wickets, Dravid was better at slip/close-in for spin bowlers. I may be wrong.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I would've thought he might’ve done that anytime the previous two tests?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
A very under-reported aspect of Chappelli's captaincy was his innovative resourcefulness in making wickets happen. And as I've said before Packer wasn't wasting his money on the WSC investment on just any old Chappell. He wanted and got the best.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Rodger Hodgson leaving Supertramp gutted them.
jameswm
Roar Guru
We need Starc bowling well 4th innings if we’re a chance to win.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Brother Where you Bound is good too.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Yep have them all on vinyl!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
In fact l think Crisis? What Crisis? and Even in the Quietest Moments are almost as good. Breakfast in America was a cop out.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Yes mate I had that on yesterday afternoon!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
"Crime of the Century" was the album that did it for me. Except that stupid song "Dreamer". I hate that song. But the rest is just beyond.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Only 3 posts above this. 8.36am. I wonder what point you think you are making. They've been really poor. Gave up in one innings. Bowled really well last session. They have finally proved to themselves that work produces results. Can they sustain it for a second session.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
There is Hilton Cartwright. Another ton today.
JamesH
Roar Guru
You literally said Starc "joined Cummins at 130kph for the rest of the match" in Karachi. That is not 'mid-130s'. At no point was either of them ever bowling 'at 130kph'. Imagine thinking I'm the dog with a bone here :laughing:
Ace
Roar Rookie
Thanks Don. I read the scores before hand on Cricinfo and Wyllie's name did not jump out but then they were only two down I'm really bullish about Sangha. There is no 4 in the making I'll check on WA now
The Late News
Roar Rookie
I can still remember the first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon. It was incredible. Quadrophonic.
JohnB
Roar Rookie
I thought I'd commented on this but seemingly not. Cricinfo has a list of highest number of test catches (going down to everyone with at least 70 catches, so leaving out a lot of players who didn't play 60 odd plus tests). Anyway, that list has a percentage figure for catches per innings, and Smith is indeed third on that (behind Simpson and Stephen Fleming, and ahead of Tony Greig, the only other with a figure over 0.8 catches per innings in that list - Simpson would have been over 1 but for the tests played when he was over 40 during WSC). Even with the limitations of that list (70 catch qualification, no adjustment for time spent bowling or not in the slips) that's an impressive stat for Smith. It would be interesting to see a list with a lower qualification - say 20 innings as for batting averages. Jack Gregory's effort of taking more than 1 per innings in addition to opening the bowling may not end up on top but remains highly impressive.
Nick
Roar Guru
Poor catching and dreadful tactics cost Australia the second test, Sgt. You can't blame the pitch for not enforcing the follow on or not being able to hold simple catches.
Tony
Roar Guru
The world could do with more loofs