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Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn were not convinced with captain Pat Cummins' strategy on Day 3 of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final. Mitchell Starc got the early wicket of Ryan Rickelton and then Wiaan Mulder but opener Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma took the match away from them. Hayden felt that Cummins needed to be more attacking in his field placement when Bavuma was new to the crease.
"You know, this defensive effort here from Australia, it was all about how they were going to take wickets and how they were going to do that early," Hayden said after the day's play on June 13.
"When they got through to Mulder and Rickelton, they had to put pressure on Bavuma. They had to put those catching cover areas, had to be less defensive, more attacking. Can you imagine if those first couple of balls had been chipped up? South Africa now it's three down. Australia got control of the match. So for me, that was a trick," he added.
Hayden feels that Cummins allowed the partnership to grow which remained unbroken at the end of Day 3.
"The drifting of the nature of the game just allowed the rotation of strike, allowed that partnership to grow and build in confidence, and it just got away from the Australian bowling lineup. Yes, it's flat conditions, but you must take 10 wickets to defend the World Test Championship. You must take the top three out of play," Hayden concluded.
Steyn agreed with Hayden about the lack of attacking field placement. He was surprised by Cummins' decisions as well.
"Yeah, a little bit surprised, I think. You know, you have to adapt with the flow of the game, and obviously today, we've seen the ball has been keeping really low, it hasn't really managed to make it to the slips, even from yesterday. And, you know, whenever we used to play, I would play a place like India, your short cover, short midwicket, it doesn't matter. They're as good as cordon slips in South Africa or Australia or something like that. So on days like this, when the ball is not travelling and it's not making its way to the slips, you have to have those guys in those kinds of catching positions," Steyn said.
The costly drop
Starc created a chance in the second session but Bavuma was dropped by Steve Smith at first slip. Smith who was standing even ahead of the wicketkeeper with a helmet on, dislocated his right hand's little finger while attempting to take the catch. Bavuma was batting on just two runs then.
South Africa in control
At the end of Day 3's play, South Africa were 213/2. Despite the hamstring issue, Bavuma returned not out for 65 off 121 balls. Markram did the bulk of scoring. He scored 102 runs from 159 balls. South Africa needed 69 more runs to get rid of the 'chokers' tag and win their maiden ICC WTC final.
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