Pat Cummins To The Rescue As Australia Grind Past Pakistan In Opening ODI
Skipper Pat Cummins kept his cool under pressure with a gritty unbeaten 32 to steer Australia to a nervy two wicket defeat of Pakistan in the first of three one-day internationals on Monday. Chasing 204, they reached the target with 99 balls to spare at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, surviving a huge scare when they lost three wickets in five balls. "Wonderful match but it got a little tighter than I would have liked it there," said Cummins. With Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head on paternity leave, the world champions had a new-look opening partnership in Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short. But Short lasted just four balls before top-edging to Saim Ayub off Shaheen Shah Afridi while Fraser-McGurk's luck ran out on 16, slapping Naseem Shah to Irfan Khan at mid-on.
