Pat Cummins clarifies after leaving Alex Carey stranded on 98 during 2nd NZ vs AUS test

Pat Cummins hit the winning runs while his batting partner Alex Carey was two shy from a hundred.

Australia captain Pat Cummins faced criticism after he hit the winning runs in the second test against New Zealand, which left his partner, Alex Carey stranded on 98*, two short of a well-deserved century, on March 11, 2024.

Fans had their fingers crossed, wanting to see Carey surpass the triple-digit mark after playing a key role in Australia’s victory. But it simply wasn’t meant to be. Cummins, in his defense, claimed that he had no knowledge his non-striking partner was on 98.

Australia needed two runs to win the match when Carey took a single and passed the ball to Cumins on the second delivery of the 65th over. Cummins protected the following three deliveries, giving fans optimism that Carey would get the strike in the next over.

But, the Australia captain hit a boundary on the last delivery of the 65th over to finish the chase, leaving Carey not out just 2 runs shy of his hundred.

I had no idea Carey was on 98: Pat Cummins

Though such moments are celebrated by fans, Cummins faced criticism on social media. Many felt that Cummins could’ve blocked one more ball, to allow Carey to finish the match and complete his century.

Talking about the same after the match, the Aussie captain said: “Pretty tense, everyone was nervous the last couple of hours. Amazing win. (On winning runs) Anyway possible to win, I had no idea he (Carey) was on 98.”

In the post-match press conference, Carey said that he was more than happy to put the team first.

“I was happy with that. I didn’t want to get on strike again,” Carey said.

In addition, the Australian captain stated that the team’s victory was largely due to the first innings lead.

“The toss helped, it was funny how quickly the match moved on Day 1. First-innings leads are always key for this reason. We’ve been on the other side of Tests plenty of time, I just told the boys to keep the scoreboard moving, stay busy, and put the pressure on the opposition,” Cummins said.

“We’ve got an experienced side, the story of this series has been guys standing up in crunch moments. Love playing Test matches, the best format of cricket and it pays off on days like this,” concluded the Australia captain.

With this win, Australia moved to the second spot in the ICC WTC 2023-25 points table with PCT of 62.50. India remain at the top of the table with PCT of 68.51.

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