Pakistan has thrown away a golden opportunity to secure a first-innings lead in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, losing five wickets in a chaotic evening session on day two.
Australian captain Pat Cummins, who claimed three crucial scalps, sparked a horror collapse of 5-46 on Wednesday afternoon, putting the hosts within touching distance of retaining the Benaud-Qadir Trophy.
Pakistan was 6-194 at stumps on day two, trailing Australia by 124 runs, with wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan (29*) and Aamir Jamal (2*) unbeaten overnight.
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MCG RECEPTION SHOWS MARSH’S FIVE-YEAR REVIVAL
When Mitch Marsh walked out to bat on Wednesday morning in Melbourne, the reception could not have been starker compared to his last visit as a Test cricketer to the MCG.
About half of the 44,837 who filed into the ground on the second day of the Test against Pakistan were in attendance and greeted Marsh with a rousing roar of approval.
The 32-year-old was treated like a villain in his previous Test appearance in Victoria, though through no fault of his own, after replacing hometown hero Peter Handscomb in 2018.
Marsh, who managed only 19 runs across two innings against India in that Test, was booed when running in to bowl, to the disgust of many, including the man he replaced.
Handscomb, who played in a trial match against Pakistan last weekend at Junction Oval, declared the reception Marsh received as “pretty ordinary”.
“He is representing the country. He is doing a great job doing it. I wasn’t obviously very happy with that,” Handscomb said at the time.
Travis Head was also upset by the treatment, stating it was “pretty poor for Mitch to cop that”.
“As he showed today, he is a great team man. (A) great fella. He worked his backside off for the boys (and) did a wonderful job,” Head said.
“I don’t think any Australian cricketer in Australia deserves to get booed.”
Marsh reflected on the episode during the recent ODI World Cup in India, saying he understood that local fans could be passionate about players from their own states, but he also told Code Sports it was the most unsettling experience he had endured in his career.
“I don’t lose sleep over it, or anything like that. But that is probably the hardest moment,” Marsh said.
“Coming on to bowl and having 75,000 people booing you at the MCG on Boxing Day. It wasn’t the best day of my career. But everyone has their story. It’s been part of mine and I got through it. So it is all good.”
Marsh recorded his highest Test score at the MCG when scoring 41 on Wednesday, but it was an innings that was not without some drama.
In the infancy of his innings he took two steps down the track and thumped Mir Hamza for four with a powerful drive over mid-off.
Not long after he was involved in consecutive appeals when given out LBW and then caught behind while on seven by umpire Joel Wilson off the bowling of Hasan Ali.
On both occasions the review showed that Marsh was not out, with a faint inside edge saving him on the first occasion and a lack of an edge the second time.
An enterprising innings was eventually ended when Marsh lashed outside off-stump at a wide delivery from Hamza and holed out to Aamer Jamal in the outer.
‘SUCH A THREAT’: CUMMINS UNSTOPPABLE AT HOME
Australia needed a breakthrough on Wednesday afternoon, and their captain delivered.
Pakistan was cruising at 1-124 in the evening session, with opener Abdullah Shafique and captain Shan Masood forming a 90-run partnership for the second wicket. The first-innings deficit was shrinking quickly, with Pakistan picking up the scoring rate after the tea break.
Cummins, having failed to unearth a breakthrough in his first spell, returned to the attack in the 31st over, shifting momentum back in Australia’s favour with an inspired spell of 2-10 from five overs.
The New South Welshman’s first victim was Shafique, who pressed forward and fended a full delivery back towards the bowler; an off-balanced Cummins somehow held onto a superb catch low to his left, with Shafique departing for 62.
In Cummins’ following over, the 30-year-old produced an absolute gem that nipped past the defences of Babar Azam, bowling the Pakistan superstar through the gate. The Kookaburra crashed into the top of off stump, and the tourists were suddenly in a spot of bother at 3-131.
The right-armer returned for a third spell and knocked over all-rounder Salman Ali Agha with his sixth delivery, tempting the right-hander into fishing outside off stump and edging behind.
Babar & Shafique fall to perfect Pat | 01:19
“He’s an incredible bowler,” Ashes icon Michael Vaughan told foxsports.com.au.
“There have been many bowlers who have had the skill and the expertise to bowl well, but he seems to just know the moment.
“He knows the moment that his team desperately needs him to get the breakthrough (and he) clearly likes to target quality players. He has certainly got the wool over Babar Azam’s eyes at the moment. It’s no secret that the captain of Australia generally targets the best players.
“I think there was one or two in England in the summer that I thought, well, he’s not quite got it right, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in Australia bowl a bad spell.
“I’m probably wrong, but I don’t remember him bowling bad balls. You have to work so hard to score your runs off him. You have to basically hit good balls for runs and that’s why he is such a threat.”
Cummins ended day two of the Boxing Day contest with the lowest strike rate among Australian bowlers with at least 100 Test wickets, knocking over a batter every 47.4 deliveries.
Lowest strike rate for Australian Test bowlers
Pat Cummins — 47.4
Mitchell Starc — 48.8
Ryan Harris — 50.7
Mitchell Starc — 51.1
Charlie Turner — 51.2
*Minimum 100 Test wickets
“He is unbelievable, isn’t he?” former Australian batter Michael Hussey told foxsports.com.au.
“One, he is a great athlete. But I think he’s quite a smart player (as well) in identifying situations of games or times in games when Australia needs a lift.
“That is pretty special, to be able to identify those times, one, but then also to be able to execute on that.
“Pakistan were looking good. If that partnership had been able to grow for another half-an-hour or an hour, then they’re probably looking like they’re in a really strong position.
“But that’s part of his makeup. He’s obviously got great skill. He’s a great athlete. But I think he’s a great thinker of the game as well.”
TEST CRICKET’S ‘HARSH’ CHASM EXPOSED
Pakistan’s initial resurgence on Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG is credited in part to adjusting to the tempo and temperament required to excel in Test cricket.
But the concern among former greats is that reductions in the amount of Test cricket nations are playing will lead to increasingly lopsided series to the clear detriment of the format.
Former English star Isa Guha told Fox Cricket’s The Follow On she believes Pakistan’s initial struggles on this tour stemmed from the lack of Test cricket the nation has played this year.
The Boxing Day match is Australia’s 13th Test match in 2023, while Pakistan in contrast is competing in just its fifth five-day affair for the year.
Only Bangladesh and Ireland (4), Zimbabwe (2) and Afghanistan (1) have played less Test matches than Pakistan in 2023.
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“It is hard to be harsh on Pakistan, at times, because they have only played three Test matches this year (before arriving in Australia),” Guha told The Follow On.
“When you are not playing the levels of cricket that Australia and England are, of course you are not going to be at the same level. I think that is something that needs looking at.”
The tourists performance in the field improved starkly on Wednesday, with Pakistan taking several good catches highlighted by Mohammad Rizwan’s superb dismissal of Alex Carey.
Pakistan’s bowling was also more disciplined against an Australian side that started the day at 3-187 but only managed an additional 131 runs in superior batting conditions.
Abdullah Shafique, who made 62, and captain Shan Masood, who scored at a strike rate of nearly 80, also batted positively in the latter two sessions after the disappointment in Perth.
Rizwan finished the day unbeaten on 29, with Aamer Jamal on two not out, as Pakistan reached 6-194 in response to Australia’s opening innings of 318.
Mike Hussey has no doubt the lack of exposure to the highest level of cricket explains why Pakistan has struggled to sustain their competitiveness for longer to date in this series.
“I think it has to be a factor,” Hussey told foxsports.com.au
“The more you play a particular format, the better you’re going to be. Players being exposed to more Test cricket, that can only help them.”
Differences in the calendar mean that some nations will be busier than others from year to year, particularly in seasons where World Cups are held.
England, for example, are scheduled to spend almost one-quarter of 2024 playing Test match cricket.
Australia will play between seven and eight matches, depending on the schedule for next summer’s series against India, next year after a particularly busy 2023.
The disparity in the number of matches played by Test countries, and the gulf in performances as a result, is stark and arguably growing.
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Former English captain Michael Vaughan said this is a clear concern.
The Fox Cricket commentator cited the quality of a recent Test squad South Africa sent to New Zealand as an example of shifting priorities in the sport.
“I think it’s an issue that there are certain teams that are playing a lot of Test cricket and there’s other teams that aren’t playing a lot of Test cricket,” he said.
“Test match cricket is in one of those precarious positions that’s been talked about for many, many years (from when) I became involved in the game in the early 90s.
“People were always saying Test match cricket is dying. It needs to change. Well, not a great deal has happened with Test match cricket over that 30-year period.
“Yes, there is a Test Match Championship, which I think is helping, but there’s so much cricket being played around the world that the fear and the threat (to Test cricket) is happening.
“Some of these other nations don’t have the wealth and expenses to be able to pay their players properly, so players are choosing to go and play the franchise system, which is understandable for the players.”
Among the ramifications is the likelihood there will be fewer record breakers in Test cricket due to the fact there are no longer as many matches being played.
While praising the deeds of Nathan Lyon, who recently became only the eighth bowler to take 500 Test wickets, broadcaster Harsha Bhogle doubts others will reach the mark.
“There just won’t be enough Test cricket for any player to get to 500 wickets,” he said on Fox Cricket.
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Hussey said that for Test cricket to thrive, it is incumbent on players to embrace the challenges that come with the format, including the time necessary to excel over five days.
He identified Indian champion Virat Kohli as an example of what can happen when a star player is invested in the traditional form of cricket.
“At the end of the day, there has to be an appetite for the players. And if the players have an appetite to play more Test cricket, there’s a better chance that will happen,” he said.
“I don’t know what it’s like in those other nations, whether they don’t have as strong an appetite for it. But I’m hoping that the players around the world do.
“There are some great examples. I think Virat Kohli is a good example. He obviously holds Test cricket really close to his heart and has an appetite to play as much as possible. “Obviously Australian teams over the last few years have certainly had an appetite to play big series like the Ashes and Indian series and things like that.
“So, at the end of the day, I think the players will have a say on the future of the game, really. If they still feel as though they want to play it, then it will continue to thrive.
“If the players lose that appetite for it and want to play more of a white ball stuff and the different leagues around the world, then it might not be as successful, you know.”
‘HAVING A SHOCKER’: WILSON CAN’T CATCH A BREAK
The man, the myth, the legend.
Umpire Joel Wilson is a respected figure in the cricket community, but the Trinidadian’s inconsistency during the 2019 Ashes series in England gave him an unwanted reputation.
Wilson made a plethora of mistakes on day one of the Edgbaston Test, with the third umpire and DRS technology getting a workout.
A couple of weeks later, Wilson became public enemy No. 1 after he neglected to give England all-rounder Ben Stokes out LBW in the final moments of the unforgettable Headingley Test. Hawkeye showed that Stokes had indeed been out, with Wilson’s incorrect decision denying Australia a crucial victory.
Wilson’s legacy was set in stone. In the four years since, Australian cricket fans haven’t shied away from poking fun at the umpire whenever an on-field decision has been overturned.
And on Wednesday, Wilson delivered in spades.
Marsh survives despite TWO ump blunders | 02:36
In the 74th over of Australia’s first innings at the MCG, Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali appealed for an LBW shout against all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, with Wilson raising the finger.
Marsh consulted teammate Marnus Labuschagne at the non-striker’s end before calling for a review, with replays suggesting the ball may have been sliding down leg.
However, to the surprise of everyone at the venue, Marsh included, a small dot appeared on HotSpot, with a spike on Snicko confirming there has been an inside edge. The on-field decision was overturned, and Marsh survived.
But the very next delivery, Wilson was called upon once again when Ali appealed for a caught behind decision, reluctantly awarding the dismissal after hearing two noises.
Marsh did no hesitate to review on this occasion, knowing the ball had evaded his bat — and replays confirmed the two noises had been front pad and back thigh guard.
Wilson chuckled while once again crossing his arms and changing his decision — he just couldn’t catch a break.
“Joel Wilson is having a shocker,” Pakistan legend Wasim Akram laughed on Fox Cricket commentary.
Sarcastic jeers erupted around the MCG when Marsh safely fended the following delivery towards the on side.
‘WAY TOO MANY’: PAKISTAN’S ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ 111-YEAR FIRST
Pakistan achieved an unwanted record at the MCG on Wednesday morning.
The tourists, who bowled out Australia for 318 on day two, conceded 52 sundries in the first innings, breaking the previous record for Tests at the MCG.
16.3 per cent of Australia’s run came from extras, which was the second-leading run-scorer of the innings behind Marnus Labuschagne with 63.
Pakistan’s quicks struggled to control the new ball, with several wayward deliveries flying down the leg side for byes. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan had no chance of stopping them, conceding 20 byes across the 96.5 overs, the most for a touring Test gloveman on Australian soil in 111 years.
The Pakistanis bowled superbly in passages throughout the first innings, but far too often gifted away runs with ill-disciplined spells.
“It’s way too many at this level,” Hussey said on Fox Cricket commentary.
“We’ve seen plenty of balls down the leg side, wide of off stump, short balls going over the keeper. It’s not been a massive highlight for Pakistan.
“That extra fifty runs for Australia, that could prove crucial as this match wears on.
“At various stages, they have not got it right at all, the Pakistan bowlers.”
Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith continued: “It’s almost outrageous.”
Most extras conceded in Test innings in Australia
58 — West Indies vs AUS, Adelaide (1989)
52 — Australia vs ENG, Brisbane (1982)
52 — Pakistan vs AUS, Melbourne (2023)
49 — West Indies vs AUS, Perth (1988)
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