Former England skipper Nasser Hussain showered praise on Australian captain Pat Cummins after the visitors won the thrilling first Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham by two wickets. Cummins walked out to bat with his team still requiring 72 runs to win while chasing 281 on Tuesday.
In fact, Australia found themselves behind the eighth ball as they needed 54 runs with only two wickets in hand. However, Cummins kept his calm and scored a match-winning knock of 44 runs. He added an unbeaten ninth-wicket alliance of 55 runs with Nathan Lyon, who remained not out on 16.
Cummins took the attack against Joe Root and played with guile against England’s quick bowlers. Furthermore, Cummins scored an invaluable knock of 38 runs in the first innings to help Australia reach 386.
Moreover, after going wicketless in the first essay, Cummins returned with impressive figures of 4-63 in the second dig to help his team skittle England out for 273.
Hussain wrote in his column in The Daily Mail: “To be able to hang in there when England played the way they did, Joe Root scooping him and him having to set fields to counteract it, was a mark of him as both a cricketer and character. The criticism he faced for adopting defensive fields, the ability to soak all of that up, and then on the fifth evening come out with 72 runs needed and bat in such a clinical manner was exceptional.”
“His sense of timing was spot-on, and when England were down on their knees, he pounced with those couple of sixes off Joe Root. When men were placed out for the hook, and they targeted his ribs, he swayed out of the way. He was so cool and calm under immense pressure.”
Hussain also lauded Cummins for sticking to his guns and feels the Australian captain would have faced flak if the visitors had ended on the wrong side of the result.
“If Australia had lost, everyone would’ve been questioning his tactics, and his captaincy for being too defensive. He wins, and it’s genius. That’s pretty much international captaincy = if you win, you get back to all the decisions that you make, and if things go against you, then people pick them apart.”
Cummins was superb for Australia with both bat as well as the ball and played an instrumental role in the team’s thrilling win. The second Ashes Test will be played at Lord’s, from June 28 onwards.
