Pat Cummins takes 10 wickets in second Test to seal series

Dec 30, 2023 Sports

BBC Sport – Pat Cummins finished with 10 wickets in the match as Australia beat Pakistan by 79 runs inside four days in Melbourne to seal a Test series victory.

Pat Cummins put in a huge late spell. (Getty Images and Cricket Australia)

Captain Cummins took 5-49 as Pakistan were bowled out for 237 in their second innings, chasing 317 for victory.

The match was delicately poised with Pakistan 219-5 before they lost their last five wickets for just 18 runs.

The last four batters all fell for ducks, with Mitchell Starc supporting Cummins with 4-55.

Victory gives Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, with the final Test starting on 2 January in Sydney.

Australia resumed day four on 187-6 and Alex Carey’s half-century boosted them to a commanding lead, finishing 262 all out with Pakistan seamers Shaheen Afridi and Mir Hamza taking four wickets each.

But the tourists’ chase started poorly with Abdullah Shafique falling for just four in the fifth over, the day after he had dropped Mitchell Marsh – scorer of a match-winning 96 – on 20.

The experience of captain Shan Masood, with 60, and Babar Azam, who scored 41, appeared to have steered Pakistan out of trouble, before Mohammad Rizwan’s 35 and Salman Agha’s half-century put them in a position to chase victory.

But Rizwan’s dismissal by Cummins, who also removed the well-set Masood, sparked a dramatic collapse and Agha found no support from the lower order.

Cummins was named player of the match for his bowling display, which included 5-48 in Pakistan’s first innings, as he finished with match figures of 10-97. It is the second 10-wicket haul of his career.

Mitchell Starc celebrates the winning wicket. (Getty Images and Cricket Australia)

The series victory caps a remarkable year for the 30-year-old, who led Australia as they retained the Ashes in England in the summer and then won the World Cup in November.

Scores: Australia 318 (Labuschagne 63) and 262 (Marsh 96, Carey 53, Hamza 4-32, Afridi 4-76) beat Pakistan 264 (Shafique 62, Masood 54, Cummins 5-48, Lyon 4-73) and 237 (Masood 60, Salman 50, Cummins 5-49, Starc 4-55) by 79 runs.

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