There was a time when Pat Cummins felt like his second Test match would never come, but after notching 300 career wickets overnight, he stands on the cusp of leading Australia to their second World Test Championship title.
Amid a defining spell of 4-4 after lunch on day two of the World Test decider, Cummins became the eighth Australian – and quickest in terms of balls bowled – to reach 300 Test victims when he dismissed Kagiso Rabada to end the South African first innings.
At 11,817 balls bowled, Rabada himself was the quickest fast bowler to the triple-century milestone, with Cummins (13,725) fifth behind the Proteas spearhead, Waqar Younis (12,602), Dale Steyn (12,605) and Allan Donald (13,672).
Cummins matched Rabada’s five-wicket haul from day one of the WTC final at Lord’s, then added his sixth and 300th overall, with his return of 6-28 from 18.1 overs a new benchmark for the best innings bowling performance by a captain at famous London venue.
After a gap of 1,944 days between his seventh and eighth Test victims following a string of injury setbacks, Cummins has made up for lost time since his second Test appearance in March 2017.
And the 32-year-old declared post-play, after his side extended their lead to 218 at stumps, that he’s not finished yet, and with the best bowling strike rate (45.75) for an Australian seamer with more than 100 wickets, it’s conceivable Cummins could take a few hundred more.
“I’ve had a really good run in the last half-a-dozen years or so of not missing too many games,” he said.
“For the first few years, I didn’t know where my second Test match was coming.
“I still feel like I’ve got lots of miles in the legs. ‘Gaz’ (Nathan Lyon) is up past 500 wickets, (whereas) back in the day, 300 felt like you’d be close to the end (of your career).
“‘Starcy’ (Mitchell Starc) is almost 400, so I don’t feel like I’m near the end anytime soon.
“The medical staff I really need to thank, the way they looked after me in the early years and continually to get through a Test match, the way they managed the fast bowlers, a lot of this is a nod to them as well.”
Cummins said 300 wickets was a significant mark in the career of fast bowler and one that was a sign of considerable resilience.
“It’s really cool knowing there’s not too many on that list,” he said.
“As fast bowler as well, 300 is something I always thought of as a pretty good sign of durability, resilience and longevity, so I feel pretty proud to join that group.”
Add into that his world-class skill, which South African top scorer David Bedingham (45), said was on full display on day two of the WTC final.
“I don’t think he ever misses,” the right-hander pondered after stumps.
“There’s always energy in the ball – he bowled like 18 overs and his energy from his first over to his 18th was exactly the same. He has a good bouncer, good skills and he’s just world-class.”
Bedingham said South Africa were still “very confident” of chasing down the target Australia manage to post on Friday’s day three, despite the fact they’ll have to score the highest total in the match to win their first ICC major title.
“When they started batting in their third innings, we would have definitely taken them eight (wickets down with a lead of) 220,” he said.
“The batters will have their plans … there’s a massive belief in this team.”
Meanwhile, Cummins says the mood in the Australian dressing room had brightened by the end of the day after Alex Carey (43) and Mitchell Starc (16 not out) edged their lead beyond 200 with two wickets remaining.
“The mood in the change room was pretty positive towards the end, that was a great partnership of (61),” Cummins said.
“Four runs were getting pretty loud claps, especially from Marnus (Labuschagne), he’s always pretty noisy, but it was a pretty good way to end the day.”
World Test Championship Final
June 11-15: South Africa v Australia, Lord’s
Broadcast exclusively on Prime Video in Australia. Sign up here for a 30-day free trial
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
South Africa XI: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi
