Emphasising on the importance of dot balls in limited overs cricket, Australia pacer Pat Cummins is delighted that the hard work he has put in to become accurate is starting to pay off.
Cummins is increasingly looking like the workhorse of this Australian team, plugging away with the wickets while others hog the headlines. The 26-year-old looked in great rhythm against Pakistan, taking 3 for 33 to derail their chase.
The right-arm pacer has bowled the most number of dot balls in the ongoing World Cup and the two bowlers that follow him are also from Australia — Mitchell Starc and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
“That’s the big improvement in my game in the last couple of years, the ability to hold a length and make it difficult to get runs,” Cummins said after Australia’s 41-run against Pakistan on Wednesday.
“If you give away easy singles then 300 becomes quite an achievable score. Cutting out the singles is huge, it means if you give away a boundary it might not be that big over of ten or 11, it may just be a five or a six,” Cummins added.
After they were set 308 for win, Pakistan scored steadily but Australia held their nerve and took wickets at regular intervals.
An eighth-wicket stand between Sarfaraz and Wahab Riaz, who scored 45 from just 39 balls, made it nervy for the defending champions until the last three wickets fell for just two runs — securing a third victory.
“It goes to show that everyone can bat these days. It was a bit closer than we would have liked, so it was good to get those couple of wickets and finish it off. We gave them a bit too much width and suddenly they were back in the game, it’s a good lesson to learn,” Cummins said.
Cummins and his strike partner Starc have 18 wickets between them in the tournament while the rest of the team have a combined 12.
Meanwhile, Australian seamer Kane Richardson is determined to seize every chance that comes his way at the ICC Men’s World Cup.
Richardson was a late call up when namesake Jhye was ruled out with a dislocated shoulder, capping a dramatic change in fortunes for the 28-year old South Australian.
On the eve of the tournament captain Aaron Finch admitted he thought Richardson’s international career was over after a run of disappointing performances.
But some attention-grabbing performances in the Big Bash for Melbourne Renegades earned his slot for the defending champions.
With the Taunton track favouring pace, he was picked ahead of Jason Behrendorff to replace spinner Adam Zampa, as Australia claimed 41-run win over Pakistan at Taunton.
And he took two wickets to stake his claim for another shot when Australia take on Sri Lanka at the Oval this weekend.
“Anytime someone questions your bottle its tough but I was pretty disappointed in my performances at the time and knew something had to change,” he said.
“I knew he (Aaron) thought that because I remembered sitting down with him and talking about it.
“I remember going on a tour to Zimbabwe and not playing a game, you learn pretty quickly that you are outside the pecking order.
“I’ve tried to stop caring about selection and just focussed on doing my best and playing cricket. Throughout the summer I took some wickets and a few blokes fell down and I’m the next man in.
“There was no point crying about it. I just thought I’ll do everything I can, if I do end up not playing again then so be it.
“It’s good to know the guys think I’ve made progress and have confidence in me.”