The rollercoaster ride continues at Lord’s, this World Test Championship final swinging sharply one way and then t’other. The dignitaries and distinguished guests planning a weekend at the Home of Cricket will surely have to find alternative entertainment; this vehicle is careering towards a Friday finish, motoring along under the steam of an engine of fast bowlers firing on all cylinders.
It still appears likely that Pat Cummins will soon be clutching the Test mace for a second time after taking control of the contest with a captain’s spell in the afternoon, but South Africa refuse to be quelled so simply. A requirement of 218 and counting looks mightily steep given the regularity with which wickets continue to fall, yet Temba Bavuma’s men, and the contest, remain very much alive.
There will surely be more twists and turns to come, though. A rollicking, rip-roaring contest will not please the ICC money-men and women hoping to squeeze their showpiece to five days, but it has so far provided the exhilarating entertainment befitting the occasion. 14 wickets on the first day were matched by 14 more on the second, the only period of smooth sailing amid stormy seas coming in a morning session where Australia largely toiled.
Yet cometh the hour, cometh Cummins, seemingly always the man to answer the call. Across 4.1 overs, Australia’s captain wrought a tempest to capsize the South African innings with a spell of four wickets for four runs that may yet prove pivotal in the retention of their Test title.
Cummins has been the respectable face of a quiet cultural evolution, his strong moral compass provoking strange criticism from certain corners of his country but his advocacy, particularly for environmental causes, is to be applauded. The circumstances in which he took over the team can be forgotten, consecutive captains resigning in tears after scandals on the pitch (Steve Smith) and off it (Tim Paine). There is a sense that his Australia team now get the balance right between firm and fair where others have faltered previously.
And boy, can he bowl. In temporarily cementing Australia’s ascendancy, their captain moved to 300 Test wickets, just the eighth from his nation to the milestone. Beneath the matinee idol looks and smooth public persona are the steel and spike that are prerequisites of an elite quick bowler. Only Imran Khan (12) now has more Test five-fors as captain than Cummins’ nine – a statistic that speaks to the relative rarity of bowling skippers and also the Australian’s excellence.
As captain, his average has dropped by about a run and a half but still sits beneath 23. The great Wallabies lock John Eales was known by a certain sobriquet hinting at his perfection; a nickname of “Nobody” is not inappropriate for another Australian skipper, too.
It’s a good job he was at their disposal as otherwise this might well have been South Africa’s day. The chaos of day one was replaced by a sense of serenity as Thursday dawned, Bavuma and David Bedingham poking anxious heads out of their shells and beginning to bite back against the Australian bowlers. The South African skipper had tentatively tiptoed to three from 37 balls but showed much more intent almost immediately. A hare did not totally take the place of the tortoise, yet glorious lofts over cover off Starc and Hazlewood were followed by a huge hooked six from Cummins to get the innings going.
An attempt to play proactively again off his opposing skipper brought about his downfall. A drive on the up was sweetly struck yet swallowed just as tastefully by a diving Marnus Labuschagne in the covers.
A pleasant morning of 78 runs for the loss of that single wicket threatened to create a more compelling contest but Cummins, as is his habit, intervened, Ol’ Blue Eyes hitting the right notes to turn the final his way. Inside three overs after a rain-delayed resumption, Kyle Verreynne was rapped on the pads having shuffled across his stumps. Such was the strength of the bowler’s appeal that he backpedalled right into the South African keeper-batter, taking a tumble. But his vociferance came with good reason – the LBW was overturned once the captain had bounced back to his feet to signal for a review.
Marco Jansen was rather friendlier to Cummins than Verreynne had been, a tame tap back to the bowler providing his second in the over in the spell to turn the match. Bedingham soon perished for a resolute 45, before Australia’s captain showed his snarlier side to rough up Kagiso Rabada. After Keshav Maharaj ran himself out, the left-hander hooked Cummins to Beau Webster on the midwicket boundary and that was that with South Africa 74 in arrears.
And so it was back to work for South Africa’s star seamer, Rabada removing Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in the same over for the second time in the match as each fell cheaply again. It has not been a great Test for Australia’s remodelled top order, with Labuschagne making only 22 before once more nicking Jansen through to the keeper.
The key wicket of Smith furthered the fightback. Lungi Ngidi was the provider, nipping one up the slope to account for the Australia captain thanks to a shrewd review. Webster befell the same fate before Travis Head heard the death rattle as Wiaan Mulder burst one past his loose-limbed drive, Ngidi cleaned up Cummins to continue the charge.
An invaluable counter-punching 43 from Alex Carey ensured Australia will have more than 200 to defend. It will not be many more, though, as two near misses from the edge of Mitchell Starc’s bat in the final over showed. This helter-skelter may not go on for too much longer but one can be sure it will be fun while it lasts.
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