Last Updated on 13 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey
The deciding Test against South Africa could not have started worse for Australia. Pat Cummins’ decision to bowl first in glorious batting conditions in Cape Town did not pay early dividends, with the hosts racing along to 140/0 by lunch.
Marques Ackerman, playing just his second Test, had his way with the loose Australian attack. He raced to 82 off 75 balls with 11 fours and two sixes in the first session. He was eventually dismissed for 95 off 94 balls, stumped off the bowling off Nathan Lyon.
Aiden Markram was also fluent for the most part, hitting 56 off 87 balls before lunch. Australia opted to play their main four bowlers and leave Scott Boland out, only to bowl both sides of the wicket and err short on a regular basis. With runs flowing, Travis Head shelled an easy chance off Markram in the 23rd over to sum up an awful opening session for Australia.
Fans, pundits slam Australia & Pat Cummins for opting to bowl first in Cape Town
“It was an irrational decision,” said Kerry O’Keeffe on Fox Cricket regarding Australia’s decision to bowl first. Markram and Ackerman regularly drove on the up in a sign of how good the pitch is for batting.
Boland, who was comfortably Australia’s best performer in Gqeberha, was left out for Nathan Lyon. Instead of opting to bowl last on a dry pitch, Cummins put South Africa in and turned to the offspinner in the 11th over. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had extracted no movement in the air or off the surface with the new ball.
Fans on social media were all over it, labelling the decision as Cummins’ “Nasser Hussain moment.” Hussan infamously opted to bowl first at the Gabba in 2002 before Australia piled up 364/2 on day one. If South Africa continue on their merry way, they could rack up a similar score on the opening day at Cape Town.
“This feels like Nasser in Brisbane decision,” said Michael Vaughan on X (formerly Twitter). Fans also shared similar sentiments.
“Australia picked Lyon expecting the pitch to assist spin on Days 4 and 5, yet somehow decided to bowl first. To make matters worse, they dropped Boland, their best bowler from the previous match,” wrote one fan.
“Cummins clearly doesn’t trust his batsmen. This is a flat deck and he opted to bowl,” wrote another.
Here are some of the reactions to Australia’s decision at the toss.
At the time of writing, South Africa are 158/1 in the 33rd over.
