Captain Cummins leads Australia to win over Pak

Captain Pat Cummins kept his nerve on his return to international cricket to lead Australia to a nervy two-wicket win over Pakistan in the first ODI. A calm Cummins made an unbeaten 32 off 31 balls to steer Australia to 204/8 with more than 16 overs to spare, after the middle-order had stumbled in a modest run chase.

Searing pace from Mitchell Starc (3/33) had earlier helped to bowl out Pakistan for 203 with Cummins, playing his first international since the T20 World Cup in June, picking up 2/39 after he won the toss and elected to field.

“It’s always nice to start the summer off in a positive way,” said Cummins. “We are looking for powerplay wickets… and it was a really positive effort with the ball. Maybe a little sloppy from us in the field.”

Josh Inglis (49) and Steve Smith (44) had the chase under control at 113/2 before Pakistan’s four-pronged pace attack had Australia reeling at 155/7 on a bouncy MCG wicket.

Fast bowler Haris Rauf (3/67) ignited the collapse when he had Smith caught at point and then Marnus Labuschagne (16) and Glenn Maxwell (0) were undone by pacey deliveries.

Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up 2/43, but Cummins added 30 runs with Sean Abbott before the skipper carried his side over the line for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Earlier, five of Pakistan’s six top-order batters, fresh from playing on spinning wickets at home against England, struggled to cope with the pace of Starc and Cummins.