Pat Cummins achieves unprecedented feat with devasting spell to trigger South Africa collapse in WTC final
Pat Cummins took matters into his own hands to set Australia on the way to yet another victory in an ICC tournament under his captaincy. However, on day two of the World Test Championship final, it was his bowling which swung the game and did the talking, as he finished with figures of 6-28 in South Africa's first innings.
It was a historic performance by Cummins, and one which took him to 300 career Test wickets. Cummins also became only the fourth captain to take 5 wickets in an innings at Lord's, and by cleaning up the final wicket of the innings, became the only captain to have 6 wickets in a single innings at this legendary ground.
Cummins started off on the evening of day one, cleaning up Wiaan Mulder through his gate. He came back on the morning of the second day to remove his opposite number, having Temba Bavuma caught at cover by a diving Marnus Labuschagne.
However, it was his post-lunch exploits that truly showed his class. With South Africa having formed some momentum before the break, it all came crashing down. Cummins removed Verreynne and Jansen in the same over, before coming back to dismiss set man David Bedingham to complete his five-fer.
Cummins also became the first captain to take a five-fer in an ICC final, as well as the player with most five-fers as a captain in Test cricket.
'At lunch we walked in, they were batting pretty well, so good to get a first innings lead,' Cummins reflected on his performance during the innings break. This was the second best figures in his Test career.
Speaking about reaching the 300 mark, Cummins expressed how much it meant to him to reach that mark. Cummins becomes the 40th member of the 300 club, and the eighth Australia.
On if he imagined he would reach the mark in one innings, Cummins said: '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.'
Cummins' effort ensured that Australia capitalised on their remarkable bowling performance on day one evening, bowling out South Africa for 138 and taking a 74-run first innings lead.
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