Cummins: Australia must move on quickly in bid to regain crown
Media release
Pat Cummins says his Australia side need to ‘dust themselves down’ and move on quickly following their ICC World Test Championship Final defeat against South Africa.
Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs for the Proteas, who claimed their first ICC competition victory in 27 years after successfully chasing down their target of 282 for the loss of five wickets.
David Bedingham was also not out on 21 after Australia claimed the wickets of Temba Bavuma, Tristan Stubbs and Aiden Markram on day four, with the overnight centurion caught at mid-wicket with just six runs required for victory.
The Australian captain had an excellent individual match, taking six for 28 in South Africa’s first innings to reach 300 Test scalps, but was naturally disappointed to see his side relinquish the crown they won two years ago.
They now travel to the Caribbean to take on the West Indies in their first series of the 2025-27 cycle and Cummins is relieved they do not have too long to lick their wounds.
“To make these finals, it’s normally off the back of being really strong at home, but you’ve got to win some away series too,” said Cummins.
“We’ve got a good chance to do that straight away. A three Test-match series out there, it means we’re into some really important cricket.
“So, in some ways, it’s good we get to dust ourselves off and turnaround in a couple of weeks and start looking ahead to the next one.
“That’s one of the good things about the World Test Championship, every Test series and every Test match feels like you’re playing for something significant.”
Cummins got Australia off to a strong start on day four as he had his opposing captain Bavuma caught behind by Alex Carey for 66 in the third over of the day.
At the time of the South African skipper’s removal, only four runs had been added to their overnight score of 213 for two and the Proteas still required 65.
Mitchell Starc then bowled Stubbs with a beautiful delivery for eight to keep Australia in the hunt of pulling off an unlikely win, but a composed 35-run partnership between Markram and Bedingham extinguished their faint hopes.
Markram’s innings of 136 was the decisive one and once he was finally dismissed – caught by Travis Head off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood – he was congratulated by the entire Australian team on his way off the field as well as receiving a standing ovation from the largely South African crowd packed into the Home of Cricket.
“He was pretty hard to dislodge,” he continued. “He batted very well and kept the scoring ticking over which for us was frustrating.
“A few of us have played alongside him at the IPL, he’s very well respected and a good man.
“Unfortunately for us, he made it look easy out there and built a big innings. We threw a fair bit at him, but he had an answer for everything.”
It was a game that Australia did hold the upper hand in at times, most notably when they bowled South Africa out for 138 to take a first innings lead of 74.
But Cummins admitted his team now had a feeling of ‘what might have been’ and rued not having a bigger advantage after both teams had batted.
“There’s lots of moments where both teams wrestled back control,” he added.
“Our first innings lead was really important. But it was an opportunity where we could have batted the opposition out of the game by putting on well over 300 plus.
“We didn’t give ourselves a big enough buffer and we let them back into the game.
“It’s disappointing to miss a huge opportunity like this, and when it happens by a little bit, it leaves you feeling a bit empty.”
ENDS