Captain Cummins hails ‘crazy year’ for Australia

A fired-up Pat Cummins bagged five wickets and 10 in the match to earn Australia a nail-biting 79-run win in the second Test and clinch the series against a battling Pakistan Friday.

Set 317 for victory, the visitors put up a stellar fight as they chased their first Test triumph in Australia since 1995.

But they were dismissed for 237, with the last five wickets falling for 18 runs.

Australian skipper Cummins was the chief destroyer, taking 5-49 to go with his first innings 5-48 -- only the second 10-wicket haul of his Test career.

Mitchell Starc chipped in with 4-55 as the tail collapsed after Shan Masood (60), Agha Salman (50) and Babar Azam (41) gave them a fighting chance.

"Little bit twitchy, felt okay but they were batting pretty nicely," said Cummins.

"Anything with a three in front of it was the aim, so we got that," he added of the target they wanted to set Pakistan. "Felt like we had enough to bowl at but a little bit tight."

It was always going to be a tough task, with the highest-ever successful fourth innings run chase at the Melbourne Cricket Ground the 332-7 England managed in 1928, with no other team getting past 300.

Cummins's second 10-wicket match haul in 57 tests capped off a glorious year in which he led Australia to the World Test Championship, a 50-overs World Cup triumph and the retention of the Ashes in England. The Australia all-rounder termed 2023 as a crazy year.

"Crazy year. Lots of cricket, lots of success on the field," said Cummins. "I think we're going to look back and remember 2023 as one of the special ones."