It is easy to be magnanimous in victory – less so in defeat – but Australian captain, Pat Cummins, gave due credit to opposite number Temba Bavuma and man-of-the-match Aiden Markram after South Africa completed a hard-fought, emotional five-wicket victory in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Saturday.
“I thought the way he (Bavuma) played was fantastic. He gave us that half chance early on (dropped at slip by Steve Smith on two) but then didn't give us another look until he got out. He had a big partnership with Aiden, so I thought he played really well,” Cummins said.
“In terms of leading, it's always pretty hard unless you're playing underneath someone to judge them so I don't know about his captaincy but, from the outside, he looked good.”
The Australian captain also had some strong words for those who doubted the veracity of South Africa’s route to the final and wheather they were ‘worthy’ champions having reached Lord’s without playing either of England or Australia in the two-year cycle of ‘league’ matches:
“In terms of the way they made it here, they made it fair and square - everyone has a slightly different route to make the final but they absolutely deserve to make the final and showed why they are very deserving champions,” Cummins said.
As for Markram’s heroic 136 which anchored the Proteas’ fourth innings run chase towards 282 – the highest total of the match – Cummins was once again full of praise:
“He was pretty hard to dislodge. He batted really well and kept the scoreboard ticking over as well, which can be frustrating. A few of us have played alongside him in IPL and he’s very well respected, he's a good man, Aiden. So yeah, unfortunately for us, he kind of made it look pretty easy out there and just built a big innings. We threw a fair bit at him but he had an answer for everything.”