Matt Renshaw, Pat Cummins and inevitability

Matt Renshaw, Pat Cummins and Inevitability

Matt Renshaw struck with a wicket in his spell on Monday evening, delivering an excellent ball that dropped devilishly on Temba Bavuma. The drift took the delivery away from the South African captain, tricking him into playing back to it and giving Nic Maddinson an easy catch at short-leg off the inside edge and pad.

Despite the wicket, Renshaw fell short of his second century in the Test. His second essay in Durban showcased his growth as an overall batter, particularly his domination of spin. By the time he spanked Keshav Maharaj over mid-on for six to reach 82, he had bossed the veteran left-arm spinner into near submission with a series of sweeps and reverse-sweeps. However, he played his only false stroke, tapping a delivery straight back at Maharaj, who managed to hang on to a caught and bowled, denying Renshaw the chance to accentuate an already remarkable fairytale.

Pat Cummins found a way to dismiss Tristan Stubbs under lights at Kingsmead on the fourth evening. Cummins, bowling at his fastest on average in a long time (clocking deliveries at 146.7 kph), required only eight deliveries to soften Stubbs up. He used searing deliveries towards off-stump, balls in the classic Cummins channel on fourth stump, and a quick bouncer to rush the right-hander. This was followed by a perfect sucker ball, full and wide of off-stump, which Stubbs attempted to feel bat to. He got a thick edge, and Alex Carey swayed to his right to 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. This wicket was orchestrated by a series of strategic bowling changes from Cummins, including:

• 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.
• Bringing Renshaw on at the Old Fort End to utilize the spin-friendly part of the wicket.

Almost each of these moves resulted in either a dismissal or the setup of a dismissal on Monday. This reflects the inevitability with which Cummins captains the Australian team on the field in his fifth year at the helm.

Cummins has access to what is considered the greatest quartet of bowlers ever in Test cricket, a group that has taken over 600 wickets between them. Their ability to problem-solve on the go has set up a potentially comprehensive Test win in Durban.

On Day 3, the focus was on adjusting the collective lengths for the fast bowlers from slightly fuller to more short of length to utilize the uneven bounce off the pitch, while banging the ball into the surface to create inconsistency. Cummins took this to the next level with his clever use of the bouncer against the trigger-happy South African batters.

On Day 4, the slight alteration came in terms of the line of attack, either to get batters out (like David Bedingham falling to Hazlewood) or to build up pressure (as seen with Stubbs). With this Australian attack, there is a certain inevitability that they will find a way out.

Now, all that remains are the final rites of an inevitably massive victory on Tuesday to kickstart the series, with a longer-standing impact on the home team expected in the subsequent two Tests.