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Pat Cummins is mounting an argument to be considered Australia’s best bowler after again producing an incisive burst just when his team needed it on day one of the fourth Test in South Africa.
The hosts were cruising at 2 for 247 yesterday when Cummins dismissed batting prodigy Aiden Markram for 152 and captain Faf du Plessis for a golden duck in consecutive balls to bring Australia back into the contest.
Debutant Chadd Sayers built on Cummins’ work by taking two quick wickets with the second new ball to leave South Africa 6 for 313 at stumps.
It was a similar story in the third Test when Cummins produced an extraordinary old-ball spell of 4 for 12 after the Proteas had been in total control at 2 for 220.
With 60 wickets at 24 in Tests, Cummins is building a formidable record. He may be just 14 matches into his career, but he has swiftly become Australia’s go-to bowler when the opposition is on top.
Over the course of his 13 Tests since returning to the side in India last year, the 24-year-old has been easily Australia’s most consistently effective bowler.
Australia have played in a huge range of conditions over that time, from slow decks in India, to dustbowls in Bangladesh, roads in Australia and grassier pitches in South Africa.
He’s adapted very well to each set of conditions, outdoing his more experienced bowling colleagues in the process.
Mitchell Starc remains Australia’s most dynamic bowler, capable of match-turning bursts with the new or old ball. But Starc is nowhere near as accurate or consistent as Cummins, who rarely bowls a truly poor spell. Josh Hazlewood was Australia’s supreme bowler when Cummins came back into the side a year ago.
Since then, Cummins has comfortably outbowled him. Both players were similarly effective in home conditions in the Ashes, but it’s been away from home where Cummins has shown up Hazlewood.
Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, is a quality spinner who has enjoyed a wonderful past year in Tests. Yet, he is not, and likely will never be, an all-conditions strike bowler like Cummins. When conditions suit, Lyon he can become a weapon, while the rest of the time he is a capable support bowler. Cummins, by comparison, is a weapon regardless of the state of the pitch.
(AP Photo/Halden Krog)
In this way he is like South Africa’s superstar quicks Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn, who throughout their Test careers have consistently managed to take the pitch out of the equation.
Cummins has been comfortably Australia’s best bowler in this away series, with 16 wickets at 24. Starc has taken 12 wickets at 34, while Hazlewood’s return is 12 wickets at 33.
That makes it three consecutive away series in which Cummins has eclipsed Hazlewood, following on from Bangladesh and India last year. Across those three series Cummins has snared 30 wickets at 26, compared to Hazlewood’s 21 wickets at 35.
The major difference between the pair has been their levels of penetration. Hazlewood has often been reduced to a stock bowler, trying to build pressure for his colleagues, while Cummins far more often has been a genuine wicket-taking threat.
That’s reflected in their respective strike rates across those series – Cummins (53) versus Hazlewood (77). Now consider that Cummins has managed all this while consistently being denied the new ball, which has been owned by Starc and Hazlewood.
The latter of that experienced pair had an ordinary day yesterday with 0 for 60 from 18 overs. Sayers had similarly underwhelming figures until grabbing the late wickets of AB de Villiers (69) and nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada (0).
The South Australian showcased his renowned swing, getting the ball to move both ways through the air. Sayers did not, however, achieve the necessary precision to fully exploit that movement. He was too short and too wide in his first spell before hitting better areas as the day wore on.
Yet, for the most part, Sayers looked innocuous.
At times he bowled at just 118km/h, which is 10km/h slower than the military mediums former wicketkeeper Matthew Wade once served up in a Test. For the most part, Sayers operated in the 123-128kmh range, which is slightly slower than Vernon Philander, the South African champion who has been an inspiration for him.
Philander has overcome his lack of speed by hitting a testing line and length more often than any other seamer in world cricket. Sayers found such precision hard to locate yesterday and will need to rectify that if he is to build on this one Test.