Mackay: Australia captain Pat Cummins said his side’s emphatic innings-and-51-run victory over Bangladesh in the second Test was the perfect response to their defeat in Darwin, praising the team’s sharpness and strong start in Mackay.
Australia completed a remarkable turnaround by bowling Bangladesh out for 95 in their second innings after posting 210 in their first. Mitchell Starc starred with a 10-wicket match haul, claiming 6/12 in the first innings and four more wickets in the second, while Cummins and Nathan Lyon took three wickets each.
The victory, which levelled the two-match series 1-1, was completed inside two days and lasted only 750 balls, making it Australia’s shortest Test in almost a century.
“Yeah, that’s right. A lot of things went right these couple of days, where a lot of things went wrong last week. But yeah, we needed to bounce back, and it was a great couple of days from the lads,” Cummins said after the match.
Australia had suffered a nine-wicket defeat in the opening Test in Darwin, but produced a vastly improved performance in Mackay, particularly with the ball and in the field.
Cummins credited the team’s excellent start for setting the tone of the match.
“Yeah, that’s it. I thought everyone was really sharp. It’s a bit like the opposite last week. If you get a really good first hour or two, it can set up the rest of the match. I don’t think we can expect to get six for 20 or whatever we had every match. But it was a great start and didn’t really let up after that,” he said.
Starc led Australia’s bowling attack with a career-best 10-wicket haul in a home Test, while Cummins returned figures of 3/10 in the second innings and Lyon finished with 3/25, including the final two wickets of the match.
Cummins also praised Cameron Green, who continued his impressive form by scoring 67 in Australia’s second innings after making 104 in the opening Test.
“So really happy for him. Again, held our innings together yesterday and this morning. So hopefully he can take a lot of confidence out of that. We know how good he is. He now keeps putting up some really solid performances in Test cricket. We know he’s good enough. So lots of cricket coming up, hopefully he continues it on,” he said.
Cummins has also revealed that he will feature in Australia’s upcoming white-ball commitments in Africa before the team returns to red-ball cricket.
“Yeah, I think I will get over there for some of it. So yeah, we will work that out in the next couple of days. But yeah, plan to play a little bit of white-ball leading into the red ball,” he said.
(IANS)
