Australia captain Pat Cummins has said that calls for changes to be made to the team is fair considering they have lost two Tests in a row in South Africa. It resulted in them losing their three-Test series against the Proteas 2-1 after having won the first Test. Moreover, it comes after a stunning 1-1 draw to Bangladesh at home.
“I think it’s always the case after losing a series [that changes are talked about], and it’s probably fair, we lost two games in a row,” Cummins said told reporters after the third Test. Australia lost the match by 176 runs, after having lost the second Test by an innings and 31 runs.
“It’s fair to be asking those questions, we’ll be asking them internally as well. We are a very good side, but I think we need to get a little bit better if we want to get back to No. 1 … so maybe that’s a change of style, maybe it’s a change of personnel in some instances. Give us a couple of weeks and work it out.”
For Australia, it is a sobering follow up to their previous series in which they were stunned by Bangladesh at home in the first Test and ended up drawing with them 1-1.
Australia’s WTC points percentage (PCT) reduced from 75 to 69.23, pushing them down to No. 3 on the table. Despite the win, South Africa have only managed to improve their PCT to 71.42 from 66.67 and move up to the No. 2 position.
They ended up slipping to third after the loss to South Africa. Starting their 288-run chase on Day 5, Australia were rocked by a menacing opening spell from Proteas pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada. Rabada demolished the top order as he accounted for Matt Renshaw (0), Marnus Labuschagne (4) and Travis Head (14). Cummins joked that Australia probably lost the Test in the first over itself that was bowled by Rabada.
