Pat Cummins admits Australia affected after ‘tough’ week in South Africa
THE sandpaper-gate scandal has clearly affected the new-look team in the fourth Test, according to key Australian figures.
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THE sandpaper-gate scandal has clearly affected the new-look team in the fourth Test, according to key Australian figures.
Paceman Pat Cummins and bowling coach David Saker conceded the energy ad been sapped out of the Australians as the Proteas edged closer to a historic Test win.
Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for a year while opener Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months, after the third Test ball-tampering plot was discovered.
Cummins, who stepped up in the absence of Mitch Starc, bagged 5-83 but was unable to stop the Proteas’ 488-first inning total.
“It’s been tough, especially those couple of days after Cape Town. But the day before the match we spoke about that it’s still a Test match for Australia, let’s find a way,’’ Cummins said.
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“We spoke about energy and all those kind of things. It’s been reasonable, and obviously there’s always something else to think about sometimes in the field.
“I know when it started yesterday I was a bit weird not seeing Davey (Smith) and (Steve) Smithy and Bangers (Cameron Bancroft) out there, but I think we’ve been pretty good.
“Yeah, it has (felt different). I think a lot of it is forced change, it always feels a little different playing with different people. But this is a moment where we can really have a think about how we play the game, and I think you’ve seen we’ve all been pretty relaxed out there, but really competitive.
“After this we’ve got a bit of a break, and we can think about how we want to play. I think the way it’s been played has been really good this game.”
Saker said the controversies of the last week had clearly rattled the team, while taking nothing away from the fast-finishing Proteas.
“It’s obviously one of the factors. It put three guys into a Test match — two have come from Australia, one hasn’t played a competitive game for a while — it was always going to be but tough,’’ Saker said.
“But the opposition bowled particularly well and we didn’t deal with that. That’s been a little bit of the story of the series so far, we didn’t leave the ball well. They’ve outplayed us for sure.
“We’ve just taken on board to try to really care for each other this week.
“After the week we’ve had there’s a lot of disappointment in the room that we can’t put something together but we’re not thinking too much about what’s happening at home.
“We’re thinking about the people that are part of our team that we’ve lost and that’s hurting a lot of people in the dressing room and that’s probably something that’s hard to get out of their mind while they’re playing.
“And no excuses again, but it’s obviously playing a factor in the way we’re playing so far in this game.”
Originally published as Pat Cummins admits Australia affected after ‘tough’ week in South Africa