Australia captain Pat Cummins was all praise for his team following a thrilling three-wicket victory in Christchurch which sealed a 2-0 series sweep over hosts New Zealand. Australia found heroes in adversity once more after slipping to 34 for 4 in a fourth-innings chase of 279 with Mitchell Marsh (80) and Alex Carey (98*) joining hands for a 140-run stand.
That partnership took the visitors to within 59 runs of victory before Cummins allayed fears triggered following a double strike by calmly adding 32 runs to take his team over the line. "Think the story of this series was in key moments one guy stood up, we didn't necessarily play the complete game, but in those pivotal moments, someone stood up and made themselves a matchwinner. [We] keep finding ways to win, it's a pretty awesome squad," Cummins said.
Australia scored at an outstanding run-rate of 4.32 through the course of their fourth-innings run chase and this tempo set by the Marsh-Carey pair despite the team reeling on the third evening came for much plaudits. Carey, in particular, was under pressure coming into this innings having hit only two half-centuries in his last 18 innings coming into this game.
"We've been on the other side of it plenty of times and if the scoreboard's not moving you feel in the game, but if they are chipping away it seems like it's all happening pretty quickly," he said. "That was goal today, be busy, keep the run rate ticking over and bit by bit getting closer."
"[It was] pretty tense. [It was] pretty nervous watching for the last couple of hours, everyone trying to keep themselves busy then looking up at the board. Amazing win."
The 2-0 series win made it six Test victories for Australia over the summer with the only defeat coming at the hands of West Indies in Brisbane. It took them to second place in the WTC standings, behind only India, who they face at the start of the next home summer.
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