Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

MR Marsh
MR Marsh
96(130) 13x4 - 0x6
Control %73%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 23 runs
  • 5x4 - 0x6
11 0 4 18 28 15 1 19
M Labuschagne
M Labuschagne
63(155) 5x4 - 0x6
Control %84%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 17 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
8 2 15 5 8 4 5 16

Best performances - Bowlers

PJ Cummins
PJ Cummins
O20
M1
R48
W5
Eco2.40
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W3W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
PJ Cummins
PJ Cummins
O18
M2
R49
W5
Eco2.72
RHB
OFFLEG
2W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
1W
1W

Match Details

Toss

Pakistan , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Series result

Australia led the 3-match series 2-0

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

10.30 start, Lunch 12.30-13.10, Tea 15.10-15.30, Close 17.30

Match days

26,27,28,29 December 2023 (5-day match)

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

Australia 12, Pakistan 0

Scorecard Summary

AUSTRALIA 318(96.5 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

PAKISTAN 264(73.5 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

AUSTRALIA 262(84.1 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

PAKISTAN 237(67.2 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Andrew McGlashan

6.25pm Australia win by 79 runs and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and wins the Boxing Day Test. It felt like the match would go into the fifth day, but the pacers bowled their hearts out, led by their captain Pat Cummins, and once Babar Azam lost his wicket, Australia had an opening and kept breaking partnerships. The drop from Abdullah Shafique will haunt Pakistan, but they should be proud of themselves for making a significant improvement after the lopsided affair in Perth. Plenty of positives for the tourists. Gnasher will be here to cover the post-match presentation.

6.30pm Thanks Rvel. What a terrific Test match. Pakistan should think that overall this was a game they could have won. But it's also to their credit that they have pushed Australia harder at home than many sides of late. Cummins has produced one of the great days. What a year he's had as a captain and bowler. Time for the chats...

Shan Masood "We have to look at the bigger picture. The smiles are that there are a lot of positives. We can easily be 'what if', but if you give a quality side like Australia sniff like we did, sometimes with the ball and with the bat and also in the field if you drop someone in form like Mitchell Marsh, we might not have been chasing [317] today, but in the bigger picture this is the way we want to play Test cricket. Fighting until the end and a result was possible for us. It's a reflection of four days, the game kept turning. Pat Cummins came in with that spell and that's why he's one of the best bowlers in the world. Then again with the bat, Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh's partnership. From our guys, we've taken 20 wickets which we haven't done in Australia for a while, that's a box ticked, in terms of runs everyone got good starts but against quality sides we want to get 100s. A lot to work on. But this is a blueprint."

Pat Cummins (who is also player of the match) "Love playing here, Boxing Day is the biggest Test match each year. You've got a few options here, a bit of seam in the last few years, and I like a bit of up and down bounce. Little bit twitchy, felt okay but they were batting pretty nicely. Anything with a 3 in front of it was the aim, so we got that, felt like we had enough to bowl at but a little bit tight. Steve and Marsh's partnership got us back in the game, we were behind for a little while. They had their tails up, the wicket was tough. That was a huge partnership and gave us something to defend. Even at 4 for 16 the dressing room was really calm, there's real trust and support and it feels like each week another matchwinner stands up. Think we'll look back and remember 2023 as one of the special ones."

Well, what a four days that has been. Playing a superb pitch, which Shan Masood very impressively acknowledged at the end, too. Australia can't lose this series but there are still vital WTC points to play at Sydney in a few days time, which will also be David Warner's farewell to Test cricket. So they'll be a lot going on. For now, I'm going to wrap things up. From Gnasher and Rvel thanks for your company and see you again soon.

67.2
W
Starc to Mir Hamza, OUT, What a snare! That finished off quickly, Starc picks back to back wickets and Australia win by 79 runs. A vicious rising delivery aimed at the body, he dangles his bat, looks away and ball grazed the edge, Smith charges in at slip and grabs an absolute stunner

Mir Hamza c Smith b Starc 0 (1m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

For those who are still ruminating over Rizwan's dismissal, here's the relevant MCC law of cricket:

5.6 Contact with the ball

In these Laws,

5.6.1 reference to the bat shall imply that the bat is held in the batter's hand or a glove worn on his/her hand, unless stated otherwise.

5.6.2 contact between the ball and any of 5.6.2.1 to 5.6.2.4

5.6.2.1 the bat itself

5.6.2.2 the batter's hand holding the bat

5.6.2.3 any part of a glove worn on the batter's hand holding the bat

5.6.2.4 any additional materials permitted under 5.4

shall be regarded as the ball striking or touching the bat or being struck by the bat

67.1
W
Starc to Agha Salman, OUT, Marsh snags one in the deep! Super stuff. Takes on the short ball and gets an edge that flies away to Mitchell Marsh at third man; he came charging in from deep and takes a stunning catch diving forward! Swung big but didn't control his bat and Salman's gritty resistance finally comes to an end.

Agha Salman c Marsh b Starc 50 (109m 70b 6x4 0x6) SR: 71.42

END OF OVER:
67 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | PAK: 237/8

  • Hasan Ali0 (2b)
  • Salman Agha50 (69b)
  • Pat Cummins18-2-49-5
  • Nathan Lyon19-1-84-0
66.6
0
Cummins to Hasan Ali, no run, Touch short and seaming in sharply from outside off, fell short of the man at gully

Former ICC umpire Simon Taufel on Channel Seven's broadcast in Australia: "For me, conclusive evidence was the ball on top of that wristband attached to the glove, with the spike (on Snicko). Very comfortable from where I'm sitting that Richard Illingworth the third umpire had conclusive evidence to overturn that decision."

66.5
0
Cummins to Hasan Ali, no run, Over the wicket, thumped hard into the deck and gets some inward seam movement towards leg stump, ducks underneath it. Hasan Ali can certainly bat, got a hundred in QeA trophy 2020/21 but this is a different ball game altogether against a very accomplished bowling line-up in trying conditions
66.4
W
Cummins to Shaheen Shah Afridi, OUT, Once again it's that man again, Pat Cummins who provides another crucial breakthrough. The man, the myth, the legend, Cummins picks up second 10 wicket haul in 57 Test matches; it's been an incredible bowling display. Pitched short and got him in a tangle, he pokes at it gingerly and ball pops up in the air, Marnus gobbles it up gleefully at short leg. Australia cluster together in joy

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Labuschagne b Cummins 0 (16m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Steve: "Aussie fan but unimpressed with the decision to give an extra 30mins to the team already well on top. They made it to the end of the day, were tired, rain might have saved them tomorrow, it was a decision that favoured only one team. Left a sour taste for me"

66.3
1
Cummins to Agha Salman, 1 run, Haring in and hits short length just outside off, bashes it towards mid-on and pinches a run and gets to his half-century, receives a warm applause from the crowd. He has not given up and is determined to take this down to the wire

Pakistan 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st8Imam-ul-HaqAbdullah Shafique
2nd41Shan MasoodImam-ul-Haq
3rd61Shan MasoodBabar Azam
4th36Babar AzamSaud Shakeel
5th16Mohammad RizwanSaud Shakeel
6th57Mohammad RizwanAgha Salman
7th0Agha SalmanAamer Jamal
8th18Agha SalmanShaheen Shah Afridi
9th0Agha SalmanHasan Ali
10th0Mir HamzaHasan Ali