Australia skipper Pat Cummins took responsibilties on his shoulders and bowled a sensational spell of 6/28 to massively help his side bundle out South Africa for just 138 runs at the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. The 32-year-old was terrific during the innings and picked up the big wickets of notably Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham and Kyle Verreynne.
With this incredible performance, Cummins reached the 300-wicket mark in Test cricket, also becoming only the fourth captain to take 5 wickets in an innings at Lord’s.
Cummins claimed several records with the terrific bowling display
The spell saw him become the only captain in history to take a fifer in an ICC final and also become the player with the most five-wicket hauls as a skipper in Test cricket. Additionally, he also became the only skipper to take six wickets at the iconic venue in London.
Cummins, who recorded the second-best bowling figures of his Test career, reflected on his spectacular performance and also expressed his happiness after playing a massive role in giving his side a 74-run lead ahead of their second inning.
“At lunch we walked in, they were batting pretty well, so good to get a first innings lead," Cummins said during the innings break.
Cummins also gave his views on surpassing 300 wickets in red-ball cricket and stated that, “It’s more than I could have asked for. For any fast bowler 300 is a big number, have battled through niggles injuries to play well on different occasions and gotten through it.”
Earlier, Australia got bundled out for just 212 runs on the first day of the match and needed to be at their best with the ball if they wanted to grab a lead in the Test. That is exactly what happened as the Aussies started dominating right from the beginning and South Africa ended the day reeling on 43/4.
Things only got better for the Baggy Greens once the second day progressed as after ending the 64-run stand between Bedingham and Bavuma, they started picking up wickets on regular intervals. The Proteas had no answer to the terrific bowling display and completely crumbled when it mattered the most. While Cummins ended the inning with six scalps under his name, Mitchell Starc racked up two while Josh Hazlewood also chipped in with one.