"He probably won't sleep tonight" - Shane Warne on Pat Cummins after England hold on to draw 4th Ashes Test
Legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne believes Australia captain Pat Cummins will "learn a lot" from Day 5 of the fourth Ashes Test as England held their ground to rescue with a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Australia were just a single wicket away from going 4-0 up in the series, but Stuart Broad and James Anderson stood firm to deny the Cummins-led team a win and saved the Test for the Three Lions.
Speaking on Fox Sports commentary, Warne said Cummins may face some sleepless nights after failing to secure a win, which would have seen them go closer to achieving a series whitewash.
"First of all he's going to learn a lot today. He probably won't sleep tonight, he'll be thinking about all the things he could have done, all the options he had," Warne said.
However, the 52-year-old refused to blame Cummins' timing of the declaration, citing missed chances and rain as factors for Australia not finishing England off.
"Let’s not forget, there were seven overs of rain, a missed run out, dropped catches and if Australia had of held their catches and got the run out — Jonny Bairstow I think was first or second ball — and they got the seven overs of rain they might have actually been able to get it done a lot earlier in the day," Warne said.
He went on to add:
"Look, whenever it gets to nine wickets down everyone's going to say you should have declared earlier. That's always going to happen, that's just the way it is, that's just the way the game goes."
"Think they batted too long" - Mark Waugh says Pat Cummins should have declared earlier
Former Australia batter Mark Waugh was of the opinion that Pat Cummins should have declared earlier on Day 4 to try and enforce a result.
"I think he'll be thinking about that declaration yesterday. He'll be thinking, 'Hmm, I think I went a bit long, I better win this game for us now otherwise I'll be looking back thinking why did I keep batting?'" Waugh said.
He went on to say that Australia did not need to set a target of 380 or more, and that 340 would have been enough.
"I think they batted too long. They did not need to bat as long as they did. 340 was plenty and if they wanted to get to 380-400 they should have got there quicker. There was rain forecast, there were a lot of things that said you don’t need to get to 400," Waugh said.
When Pat Cummins got Jos Buttler and Mark Wood out in one over and Scott Boland followed it up with Jonny Bairstow's scalp soon after, it looked like Australia had the match in the bag.
England, however, had other plans as Jack Leach and Stuart Broad defied them almost until Stumps. However, Steve Smith got Leach nicking off with two overs to spare, leaving England nine down.
However, Broad saw off Nathan Lyon's over and James Anderson managed to keep Steve Smith out in the final over to seal the draw.
It was the first time Pat Cummins had failed to win a match as Australia captain.