Matt Renshaw, Pat Cummins and inevitability
Renshaw came close to a memorable century, but Cummins' tactical nous and Australia's ability to adapt put South Africa on the back foot
There was a sense of inevitability that Matt Renshaw would strike with a wicket in his spell on Monday evening. And he did. It was an excellent delivery too to complement the previous one that rushed Temba Bavuma on the front-foot and almost had him trapped in front. This ball was given a lot more air, but it also dropped on the South African captain devilishly with the drift taking it away from him. Tricking Bavuma into playing back to it and giving Nic Maddinson an easy catch at short-leg off the inside edge and some pad.
There had also been a similar inevitability around the left-hander completing his second century of the Test. Unfortunately for Renshaw, despite this being a Test match that’ll always be synonymous with his renaissance, he didn’t. In terms of pure quality, the 30-year-old’s second essay in Durban was even more of a showcase of simply how far he’s grown as an overall batter, especially when it comes to his domination of spin. By the time Renshaw spanked Keshav Maharaj over mid-on for six to get to 82, he’d bossed the veteran left-arm spinner into near submission, particularly through a series of sweeps and reverse-sweeps. Only for him to somehow play his only false stroke and tap a delivery straight back at Maharaj, who, through various attempts at dropping it, managed to hang on to a caught and bowled to deny Renshaw the chance to accentuate an already remarkable fairytale.
There’s always, by the way, an inevitability about Pat Cummins finding a way to dismiss a hapless batter who he’s decided to prey on. Like he did with Tristan Stubbs under lights at Kingsmead on the fourth evening. It wasn’t even a long hunt on this occasion. Cummins, who’s bowling at his fastest on average in a long time, even clocking deliveries at 146.7 kph at times, required all of eight deliveries to soften Stubbs up, remind him of his weaknesses, set him up to succumb to them before executing the kill order.
A couple of searing deliveries towards Stubbs’ off-stump, a couple that landed in the classic Cummins channel on fourth stump and shaped away off the wobble seam, a quick bouncer to rush the right-hander, in a way he’d got him out in the first innings. Followed by the perfect sucker ball, full and wide of off-stump, with the inevitability that Stubbs was going to want to feel bat to it. As he did, only to get a thick edge and for Alex Carey to sway to his right and grab an easy catch behind.
The Stubbs dismissal, the fourth in South Africa’s run-chase, came right on the back of Bavuma falling to Renshaw, a wicket that was orchestrated by the latest in a series of strategic bowling changes from Cummins. They included swapping himself and Josh Hazlewood around from both ends, getting Nathan Lyon to bowl from the Umgeni End which was least profitable to off-spinners in this Test, and bringing Renshaw on at the Old Fort End to see how much the tall part-timer could get out of the spin-friendly part of the wicket. Almost each one of those moves resulted in either a dismissal or the setup of a dismissal on Monday. It’s part of the inevitability with which Cummins seems to captain this Australian team on the field in what is now his fifth year at the helm.
It does also help that he’s got access to, and this includes himself, the greatest quartet of bowlers ever in Test cricket, with the group now having taken over 600 wickets between them every time they’ve operated as a crew. And the way in which they are able to problem solve on the go, like they have done on back-to-back days now to set up this potentially comprehensive Test win in Durban.
On Day 3, it was all about adjusting the collective lengths for the fast bowlers from being slightly fuller to more a short of length to utilise the uneven bounce off the pitch. By also banging the ball into the pitch to create that inconsistency off the surface. Cummins of course took it to the next level with his clever use of the bouncer against the trigger-happy South African batters.
A day later, the slight alteration came more in terms of the line of attack either in terms of getting them out, like in the case of David Bedingham falling to Hazlewood, or in the build up of pressure, which is what Stubbs was subjected to. With this Australian attack, there is a certain inevitability that they’ll find a way out.
And they have. Now all that remains are the final rites of an inevitably massive victory on Tuesday to kickstart the series and one that looks inevitable to have a longer standing impact on the home team in what’s to come in the subsequent two Tests.
