Australia captain Pat Cummins mentioned leading his aspect to victory in a dramatic Ashes opener at Edgbaston represented the “number one” win of his Test profession.
The quick bowler hit a match-clinching 44 not out as he accomplished a chase of 281 in commanding style throughout an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 55 with Nathan Lyon when Australia had been seemingly down and out at 227-8 on Tuesday’s last day.
Asked if this two-wicket success was the very best win of his 51-Test profession, Cummins — who lately led Australia to victory in the World Test Championship last over India, replied: “Number one. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Start of an Ashes series. Number one.”
Both Cummins and Lyon had been concerned in one other basic Ashes climax when England captain Ben Stokes’s unbeaten century was primarily accountable for the hosts’ beautiful one-wicket win at Headingley in the course of the drawn 2019 sequence.
Australia, nevertheless, would have received that match had not Lyon fumbled a run out, whereas Cummins conceded the successful runs when Stokes drove him via the covers.
‘Pretty satisfying’
“Yeah, I would be lying if I said it didn’t (cross my mind),” Cummins informed reporters.
“We had been on the opposite aspect of one in the final sequence right here. When you’re on the opposite aspect it appears like one that’s bought away and it actually hurts.
“It’s a really happy dressing room in there. A lot of those guys were there at Headingley and to clinch one that was perhaps out of our grasp for a little while there is pretty satisfying.”
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While England tried to make the operating with a daring declaration on the primary day, Australia struck to a extra conventional red-ball strategy even on a final day the place the morning session was washed out.
Their methodology was exemplified by participant of the match Usman Khawaja’s painstaking knocks of 141 and 65, with Australia unaffected by the chants of “boring, boring Aussies” from sections of the Edgbaston crowd.
“The fans were pretty noisy out on the hill,” mentioned Cummins. “Win or lose we are pretty comfortable with how we go about it.”
Memorable week
Cummins, bidding to turn out to be the primary Australia captain since Steve Waugh in 2001 to win an Ashes sequence in England, added: “We’ve been really good for the last 20 Test matches over two years… We are at our best when we play at our own pace and tempo.”
Victory in the primary of this five-match sequence accomplished a memorable week for Cummins, whose mom Maria died earlier this yr, with the 30-year-old in a position to have a good time on the balcony along with his father, Peter.
“Dad was here in 2019 with Mum, so having him here was really special. I went with him to see Bruce Springsteen (at Villa Park) on the first night as well. So, it’s been a good week.”
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