Australia captain Pat Cummins and wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey were beneficiaries of 5 overthrows on the fourth day of the second Test match against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today. In a rare incident, Cummins and Carey didn’t enjoy the benefit of a quintessential boundary. Instead, they literally ran five runs between the wickets.
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It all happened on the third delivery of the 75th over when Cummins nicely drove an Aamer Jamal delivery between point and cover to run a couple of runs. Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali, chasing the ball from point, had put in a commendable dive before throwing the ball back to the non-striker’s end.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, however, erred at collecting the ball which further allowed Cummins and Carey to accumulate more runs. With Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq not giving up on the chase, the two batters ran three more runs to result in a combined rarity of 5 overthrows. Reaching near the stumps from mid-on, Afridi wasn’t entirely at fault as Ali’s throw had also landed in an awkward position.
Such hilarious instances of on-field mistakes aren’t novel to the Pakistani cricket team. Barring several dropped catches on this tour, they somehow manage a way to put on display debacles by either not attempting to stop the ball or providing similar overthrows.
Australia, who needed to accumulate more and more runs in order to strengthen their lead, found an asset in the form of Carey’s sixth Test half-century. Last Australian batter to be dismissed in the second innings earlier in the day, Carey scoring 53 (101) was pivotal to the hosts setting Pakistan a 317-run target.
