Australia is on the verge of a showdown with South Africa in the 2025 world championship final at Lord’s in June after its 184-run victory in Melbourne. KEN PIESSE reports
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy goes down to one last showdown in Sydney after an extraordinary Test match, the best in Melbourne since the Centenary Test in 1977.
The record final day crowd of 66,000-plus, most paying just $10 a head, were the good judges, an engrossing match not finishing until well after tea.
There hadn’t been a bigger set of Test match crowds at the ‘G since 1937 and the age of Don Bradman.
Pat Cummins’ refusal to declare Australia’s innings closed earlier could have been costly, before the last helter-skelter final session when the Indians lost seven for 43 in 25 overs.
The Australians have now firmed to play in the 2025 World Championship final at Lord’s in June.
Cummins bowled and batted beautifully, leading from the front, being Australia’s matchwinner, yet again and winning the coveted Johnny Mullagh Medal.
The bravery of Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal seemed to set up the opportunity for an epic draw, before the late collapse.
No team batting fourth in an MCG Test has ever chased down such a huge total.
Cummins surrounded the batsmen with close-in fieldsmen and once Jaiswal was seventh out at 140 the late-order Indian batting disintegrated.
One of the pivotal moments was when part-timer Travis Head dismissed Rishabh Pant with a long hop. Rather than being an inspirational piece of captaincy from Cummins, he conceded afterwards that Head’s appearance at the crease had purely been to hasten the over rate.
It was a joyful week for Test cricket, setting up a grand series finish at the SCG.
Jasprith Bumrah’s 30 wickets in four Tests sees him on the cusp of a new record by an Indian downunder. By next week we may be calling him the greatest since Warnie. There could not be higher praise.
Win or draw in Sydney and Australia wins the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2014. Thankfully the weather forecast is clear… for now.
KEN PIESSE has covered cricket and football for more than 30 years in Melbourne. Despite that setback, Ken has written, published and edited 86 books on cricket and AFL football to become Australian sport’s most prolific author.
His latest cricket book is his own memoir, Living the Dream, 60 years in cricket and football with Wilkinson Publishing, out now.
www.cricketbooks.com.au
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