AUS vs ENG: 'Impressed' AB de Villiers Lavishes Praise On Pat Cummins For Masterstroke That Halted England's Charge At Lord's
Published - 30 Jun 2023, 02:43 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 09:24 AM
Former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers lavished praise on Pat Cummins for his brilliant captaincy on day two of the ongoing second Ashes Test between England and Australia at the Lord’s.
Asked to bat first, Australia performed well with the bat and finished their innings on 416 runs. Australia had to fight bowler-friendly conditions on day one and they did brilliantly. After David Warner’s fifty and Marnus Labuschagne’s 47-run knock laid the foundation, Steve Smith’s century and Travis Head’s quickfire knock of 77 runs helped the visitors post the highest total of the series so far.
In reply, England made a strong start with the bat. Openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley added 91 runs for the first wicket before the latter after scoring run-a-ball 48. Duckett and Ollie Pope continued England’s domination with the bat before Australia turned things around in a short span of time thanks to a ‘short-ball’ tactic.
With England’s batsmen willing to throw their bat at almost every delivery, Pat Cummins & Co. decided to test themselves with short ball and the ploy worked. The hosts lost three key wickets for just 34 runs to find themselves reeling at 222 for 4 from 188 for 1.
Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Ben Duckett were all caught by fielders positioned in the deep as they decided to take on the short ball and played the pull shot. Duckett was on 98 when he decided to pull Josh Hazlewood and missed out on his maiden Ashes ton.
AB de Villiers heaps praise on Pat Cummins:
With captain Pat Cummins impressing one and all with his ploy against the high-flying English team, AB de Villiers took to Twitter to heap praise on him. He credited Cummins for not only trying the ploy but also sticking with it especially when the pitch was not really ideal for short bowling.
“When a fast bowler, who’s also the Captain, and can hold the bat himself realises that no one is fully in control or comfortable against the short ball. Even the best in the world feel uncomfortable to quality short bowling to the right field placing,” wrote AB de Villiers.
“Credit to Cummins for taking this route, but more importantly, persisting with it. Aus have opened it up here while Eng looked like dominating procedures. Smart Cricket. Very entertaining.
“And bear in mind, this pitch is fairly low and slow! Imagine…,” he added.
And bear in mind, this pitch is fairly low and slow! Imagine…
Meanwhile, England managed to recover after losing the three wickets in quick time thanks to Harry Brook and Ben Stokes. At stumps, the home side were on 278 for 4.
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