Pat Cummins was just 18 when he made his Test debut at The Wanderers in Johannesburg in November 2011. In that game, he took the wickets of Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers to finish with match figures of 7/117. Then, with Australia chasing a daunting 310 for victory against Dale Steyn and company, Cummins stroked 13 not out to seal a two-wicket win. With his movie-star looks and skills, Australian cricket hailed its next generational talent.
It would be another five years and three months before he played another Test, against India in Ranchi, so severe were the back injuries that caused his red-ball career to stall. But he returned with a more mature body and a remodelled action and has since gone on to become one-fourth of one of the most potent bowling attacks in Test history.
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On Thursday at Lord’s, day two of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Cummins joined Nathan Lyon (553) and Mitchell Starc (384) in the 300-wicket club that was once the benchmark for bowling greatness. Josh Hazlewood, the last of the Fab Four, is not far behind on 280. So formidable has the quartet been that Scott Boland, who terrorised India’s batters in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, is on the bench despite taking 56 wickets at 17.66 in just 13 Tests.
On a day when there was no dramatic swing or significant movement off the seam, Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham initially made batting look easy. It was Cummins, who had dismissed Wiaan Mulder on day one, who wrenched the momentum back in Australia’s favour with a telling spell either side of lunch.
Bavuma was brilliantly caught by a diving Marnus Labuschagne while driving on the up through cover, and after South Africa had recovered to go to lunch at 121/5, Cummins pulled the rug from under them in four devastating overs after lunch. Kyle Verreynne was given out after Australia reviewed a leg-before appeal that was initially given not out. Verreynne had even knocked Cummins over while attempting a leg bye, but subsequent replays showed the ball smashing leg stump.
Three balls later, Marco Jansen popped up a simple return catch, and not long after came the crucial wicket. Bedingham had top scored with 45, but he was all at sea to one that angled in and took the edge through to Alex Carey. That gave Cummins a 14th five-wicket haul in Tests, and reaffirmed his appetite for the big occasion.
In the World Cup final against India in 2023, it was Cummins who had silenced the crowd, exactly as he predicted, with the all-important wicket of Virat Kohli. Like one of his predecessors in Australia’s attack, Glenn McGrath, Cummins hits the pitch hard from a height, at a length that’s almost always awkward for the batters to negotiate. He can also be quick enough to jar bat handles.
Fittingly, it was Cummins that wrapped up the innings, after Kagiso Rabada smeared a pull to Beau Webster in the deep. By then, the Australian skipper’s intervention had seen South Africa lose their last five wickets for just 12. The lead was a potentially game-altering 74. More glory, it seems, awaits Cummins and Australia.
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