Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma perhaps played the most significant innings of their careers at Lord’s on Friday as Australia’s pacers failed to replicate their first innings performance.
Australia began well when they set about defending 282 sending back Ryan Rickelton early. But there was very little to cheer about for their bowlers thereafter.
The second day had raised Australia’s hopes when captain Pat Cummins took six wickets to join the 300-wicket club in Test cricket.
Former opener Matthew Hayden had praised the pace trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for their superb performance in the first innings.
“Cummins does everything right... he challenges the off stump, uses the slope (at Lord’s), and targets the top of the stumps, making batters play constantly. He now has over 300 Test wickets despite not bowling for five-and-a-half years due to injury. That’s extraordinary,” Hayden said on JioHotstar.
“The trio of Hazlewood, Cummins, and Starc might just be Australia’s best-ever pace attack, even better than (Glenn) McGrath, (Jason) Gillespie, and (Brett) Lee because they’ve bowled more together, in more combinations. Add Nathan Lyon to the mix, and it’s an awesome foursome,” the former opener said.
Hayden pointed out that while bowlers dominated proceedings on the first two days of the WTC final, the batters have not been at their best.
“Batters seem a bit rusty in terms of Test match batting. The lateral movement has made footwork difficult... they’re getting hit on the pads, edging deliveries. Bowlers have dominated this match,” Hayden said.
“Test cricket demands that you get comfortable with not scoring quickly, something that’s the opposite of what the shorter formats teach. T20 batting encourages moving away from the ball to create space and power, but in Tests, that becomes a weakness,” he said.
He was critical of the Australian top-order, which except for Steve Smith, failed to come good.
