Australia fight back to keep Cummins out of unwanted club... for now
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Australia lost the second Test in Gqeberha by an innings and 31 runs South Africa 329: Ackerman 95, Markram 78; Starc 6-72 It is the club every cricket captain desperately tries to avoid.
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Nasser Hussain is a fully paid-up member.
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Ricky Ponting won it all in charge of Australia, yet people still talk about his decision to bowl at Edgbaston when Glenn McGrath was on his way to hospital in 2005.
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The 27th October, the 2026 Cape Town decider, could yet be an occasion for which Pat Cummins is always remembered – a Test which means he joins that unfortunate group of skippers who chose to bowl when they should have opted to bat.
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It is down to his bowlers that that is not already all but a certainty.
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After a shocking start, a bad call at the toss compounded by a wayward bowling performance across the first two hours, Australia roared back into the Test in the afternoon.
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They were helped by some careless South African batting as their happy hookers allowed a position of 203-1 to become 232-6.
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Aiden Markram, David Bedingham and Wiaan Mulder were all out attempting to take on the short balls – for 78, 50 and nought respectively.
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On 95, opener Marques Ackerman ran past one from Nathan Lyon with the glory of a first Protea century in his second Test in his sights and captain Temba Bavuma was undone by a straight ball from Lyon.
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Either side of a knock of 179 last week, Bavuma has got out to off-spin three times in three innings – all for single-figure scores.
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And while Australia stuck to their task in the afternoon, fielding well and drying up the scoring after 140 runs were leaked at more than four runs per over in the first session, most impressive was the way Mitchell Starc thundered in the day's final moments.
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At 327-6, South Africa could yet have finished this enthralling day - one fitting of a series decider from which the winner will finish the series on top of the rankings – in the ascendancy.
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Instead, Starc took four wickets in six deliveries with the new ball, first prising out Ryan Rickelton for 42 and Marco Jansen 52.
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He targeted pads and stumps, bowled Gerald Coetzee and pinned Kagiso Rabada lbw for ducks.
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South Africa were 329 all out.
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Somehow, after everything, if either side is happy, it is Australia. Starc took four wickets in nine balls with the second new ball - all with full deliveries targeting the stumps Such is the time difference, many back home missed this fightback, having rolled over when Scott Boland was left out again, Cummins chose to bowl under blue skies and South Africa plundered the bowling through the opening session.
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When Starc was being slapped and steered for four consecutive fours by Ackerman, few anticipated this finale.
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Not since Ponting's insertion of England 21 years ago had a 100-run opening partnership been made for a side put into bat by Australia.
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But Cummins' Australia held firm again where other sides have folded.
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As a side they remain imperfect. They could yet lose this Test - a result that could have wider repercussions going forward to next year's Ashes.
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Their batting line-up, with opener Nic Maddinson sent on a flight home after two Tests, Marnus Labuschagne retained despite a run of innings without a century longer than most careers and, crucially, with Steve Smith out injured is flawed.
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But Australia find a way, often when teetering somewhere near the brink. It is 11 months since knives were sharpening after four sessions of last winter's Ashes series.
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Batter Usman Khawaja was injured playing golf, the batting line-up weak and the back-ups to an ageing pace attack not up to the mark.
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They won that Test in two days and took the series 4-1.
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This could prove an even more impressive reversal at the bottom of Africa.
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The end result does not prove Cummins was right with his morning decision, however. South Africa scored all around the wicket in the morning session in Cape Town "It feels like there's a bit of moisture in the wicket so we will have first use of it," he said after putting South Africa into bat.
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Eleven overs later, Lyon was bowling his spin.
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Not since Shane Warne in 2000 had an Australian spinner been in the attack so early after their captain chose to bowl.
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Instead, the obvious explanation appears that he made his call to protect a struggling batting line-up.
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Matt Renshaw will be pushed back up to open, having impressed in the first Test at number five, and Labuschagne given another, possibly final, chance.
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Batter Josh Inglis, one of the four to come into this Australian XI, has not faced a red ball in a competitive match since March - nor Cameron Green since August. Will a day's play help ease those batters back into this Test, or simply delay the inevitable?
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Cummins' entry into that unwanted club has been delayed by his bowlers' streetwise nature and ability to sense a moment.
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Now his batters must ensure he never steps foot inside at all.
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What next for Australia after chastening defeat by South Africa?
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