Australia fight back to keep Cummins out of unwanted club… for now

Australia fight back in afternoon and evening against South Africa to spare the blushes of captain Pat Cummins in third Test. Australia lost the second Test in Gqeberha by an innings and 31 runs It is the club every cricket captain desperately tries to avoid. 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. 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.

It is down to his bowlers that that is not already all but a certainty. Follow live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app. 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. They were helped by some careless South African batting as their happy hookers allowed a position of 203-1 to become 232-6. Aiden Markram, David Bedingham and Wiaan Mulder were all out attempting to take on the short balls – for 78, 50 and nought respectively.