Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins was left disappointed after his team suffered a painful defeat in the second ODI in Manchester despite enjoying a firm grip on the contest for most parts.
The visitors once had England 149/8 before the lower-order came to the rescue for the hosts and allowed them to post a fighting 231/9 on a surface offering uneven bounce to the quicks.
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In the second half, a similar theme continued, as Australia lost their last eight wickets for just 63 runs despite being 144/2 and went down by a margin of 24 runs.
“I’ll get my head around that tomorrow and have a bit of a look at the footage. On that wicket, for 40 overs it felt like a good length was the hardest to hit, and suddenly they started hitting them quite nicely,” said Cummins after the match as the series levelled 1-1 with a game to spare on Wednesday (September 16).
“We’ll have a review. If we’d kept them down – those last 10 (overs) went for 80-odd, I think – we’re suddenly only chasing 200 and it’s a different game."
“It’s a tough one to get your head around. I thought we bowled really well and then let them off the hook in the last 10 overs … we gave them an extra 40 or 50 runs."
Cummins also said the pitch at Old Trafford was just the kind where his team need to pull their socks on as they eye their sixth 50-over World Cup title in India in 2023.
“Something we always talk about in tournament play and World Cups is that towards the back end, you are likely to get these kind of wickets where spinners (will play a role) and you’re not getting 350 that you might get at the start of the tournament,” he said.
“On a really good wicket, in your death bowling you go to yorkers or slower balls or bouncers. Here it’s tossing up what’s the hardest ball to hit – is it a yorker or maybe it’s top of the stumps?"
"Maybe you can keep the fields in for longer, the spinners might have more of an impact. I really enjoy it. It makes you think differently and try and solve problems," Cummins added.
(Inputs from PTI)
