Pat Cummins displayed nerves of steel as he produced a captain’s knock on Tuesday to guide Australia to a thrilling two-wicket victory over England in the first Ashes Test in Birmingham.
Cummins remained unbeaten on 44, stitching an unbroken 55-run stand with Nathan Lyon as Australia chased down the 282-run target set by England in the final minutes of the rain-affected Day 5 at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
This was after another defiant effort from opening batter Usman Khawaja, whose 141 in the first innings was followed by an equally gritty 65 off 197 deliveries that kept the reigning world Test champions in the hunt after getting reduced to 143/5 at one stage.
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His dismissal, off opposition skipper Ben Stokes’ bowling however, allowed the hosts to claw their way back. Wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey departed soon after, and it was England’s game to lose thereafter with Australia reduced to 227/8.
Cummins and Lyon though, refused to fall into any of the traps set by Stokes and Co and went for the victory instead of blocking their way to a draw. Ultimately it was Cummins who got his team over the line, playing opening the face of his bat to guide a short-of-length delivery from Ollie Robinson towards third man where a misfield resulted in a boundary and brought the closely-fought opening Test to an end.
Watch the winning boundary by Cummins and the subsequent celebrations below:
Khawaja was later adjudged the Player of the Match for his efforts, batting across all five days of the match.
In the process, Australia managed to exorcise the ghosts of the epic 2005 encounter, in which the Ricky Ponting-led side fell just two short of a similar target set by Michael Vaughan’s England.
Australia were bowled out for 279 after being set 282 to win in what would be a turning point in one of the most memorable series’ of all time in cricket history.
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