‘Great way to kick off’; Aussies celebrate a masterpiece in Durban as Cummins backs in selectors gamble

Australia will continue to adjust its batting order where it deems fit after recording a resounding 214-run triumph over the Proteas in the opening Test of the highly anticipated Test series in South Africa.

The selection panel headed by George Bailey was under fire after shock recall Nic Maddinson’s 33-ball duck last Friday precipitated a scratchy start that saw Australia slump to 6-124 before man of the match Matthew Renshaw’s heroics.

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With Cameron Green and Josh Inglis striving to reach peak fitness ahead of the second Test in Gqeberha beginning on Sunday, the prospect remains there will be more changes, but selectors will need to weigh up whether that is a risk.

But after Maddinson fired in the second innings and Renshaw dominated at No.5 in an astonishing performance, the Australians’ gamble in changing the order reaped the richest of rewards.

But Australian captain Pat Cummins did not rule out further adjustments when reiterating the team philosophy that the nation’s best batters need to be versatile as opposed to specialists batting in one position.

“It’s always something we discuss. We’re always big on how the order functions as a whole,” Cummins said.

“Seeing the way that Renshaw played spin in the one day series … led me to the thought that he’d look pretty good at number five. But give us a few days. We’ll look at the conditions of the next Test and whether that’s still the case.

“I mean, it’s got to be pretty compelling to move him from there. But we’ve seen Travis Head down at number five as well do a job. We’re always working about the six batters, or seven plus ‘Kez’ (Alex Carey) and how that is going to function as a whole.

“I still think he can be a great opener, and now he’s got another string for his bow that he’s found this week.”

Cummins said the success demonstrated the capacity of the selectors to find solutions to problems and noted Maddinson had fitted in well to a team he last played for a decade ago, while Renshaw delivered on the promise he showed back then as well.

“Kudos again to the selectors. Whenever they’re presented with a problem, it’s how do they go about solving it (and) I think George and Ronnie (McDonald) and Dods (Tony Dodemaide) keep finding ways,” he said.

Among the many pleasing aspects of the Test win was the brilliance with which Australia’s champion quartet of bowlers performed after their struggles last summer when only Mitch Starc was able to play through the entire Ashes.

Cummins was brilliant in the first innings and Josh Hazlewood even better in the second when securing career-best figures of 6-49, while the Australian quartet moved beyond 600 wickets as a Test combination in the match, by far the best in history.

“We haven’t really had the consistency of the last two or three years like we did of the late, I don’t know, 2020 or teens, whatever it was four or five years ago,” Cummins said.

“This week has felt a bit more like the old Test cricket. I reckon it’s a bit more of a grind. It felt like it was going to go five days before I was playing.

“It’s not going to happen forever and kind of relish it while it’s happening. But someone like Joshy, just seeing him getting consistent games back into him … is great. It’s fun (and we’ve) been lucky to be able to do it for a fair amount of time with him.”

The triumph aside, there was more good news for the Australians with Smith cleared of concussion concerns overnight.

The champion continued his remarkable Test in the field – he set a new record for Test catches by players other than the wicketkeeper earlier in the week – when catching Kyle Verreyne of the bowling of Renshaw, who took his first two Test wickets.

The Australians were not only resilient and then aggressive with the bat and reliably superb with the ball, they were also extremely sharp in the field and Cummins captained astutely when ringing the changes at timely intervals.

Inglis, meanwhile, has been batting in the nets, while Green was doing run-throughs in the middle before play in a step forward. With Scott Boland and Michael Neser also firing in the nets, the Australian’s stocks are rising.

And they were delighted. About 4.15pm, almost three hours after play finished for the day, the Australians could be heard belting “Underneath the Southern Cross” from the pavilion, celebrating a well-deserved success.

“It was just a great way to kick off. A series overseas is always tough. You never quite know what you’re going to get in the first Test,” Cummins said.

“But I think, particularly from the position we were in on day one when six down felt probably well behind where we wanted to be, and then mainly through Renshaw, clawing our way back, kind of grinding it out, and then once we had the lead, not giving it back.

“Even sometimes where we have got that far in front, I feel like we haven’t been as ruthless as we could be, but I think our standards were very high for the last three or four days.”

After the match, South African captain Temba Bavuma sat by himself in a dugout for several minutes composing his thoughts.

It was his first loss as captain in 13 Tests to date and the manner with which the Australians had outclassed his side concerned him, with Bavuma noting the South African batting order got starts and then failed to post big enough scores.

Noting the relentless quality of an attack Bavuma felt like he had been facing “for a century”, he said some of their more inexperienced batters failed to handle the consistent excellence and would need to learn from the match.

Only Aiden Markram, who batted with stoicism to extend the match beyond lunch, and David Bedingham looked comfortable.

“You have got to praise the Australians for the way they hung in when we had them at 124 for six,” he said.

“I think any other day as a bowling attack, you’re backing yourself to restrict them to less than 250 and for them to go and get that.

“They hung in. They spent time at the crease and really showed what was possible once the ball got soft, and then I think in the second innings obviously they played like a team that was in front.

“They put us under pressure. They took command of the game. And in our second innings, it was a good effort, I’d like to say, especially from a guy like Aiden, but just not enough fight and mental aptitude from us to get us into that last session.”

But South Africa will be strengthened with superstar Kagiso Rabada set to feature in Gqeberha after overcoming a hamstring strain that kept him out of the opening Test and threatened to force him out of the series.

“KG looks good. Super Sport (the broadcaster) kept showing him on the big screen bowling,” he said.

“I mean, he’s as bubbly as ever within the changing room. His non-selection was more from a precautionary point of view, given him the extra couple of days. So he’s got the extra couple of days. We’ll see how it continues to improve. But he’s good.”