Cummins eighth Australia bowler to reach 300-wicket milestone in Tests

Australia captain Pat Cummins became the eighth from his country to 300 Test wickets as his 6 for 28, the best by a captain at Lord's, dismantled South Africa on the second day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

It meant that, for the first time in Test history, a bowling attack had three players with 300 or more wickets: Cummins joined Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon in the group. Josh Hazlewood sits on 280.

"It's great, and I've got some family here, which is nice," Cummins told the host broadcast at the innings break. "It's way, more than I could have asked for. For any fast bowler 300 is a big number, means you've battled a few injuries and niggles, got through it and played well in different conditions."

Speaking again after the day's play, Cummins reflected on his journey, which saw him miss six years of Test cricket after a memorable debut against South Africa in 2011.

Carefully nursed through the intervening period by the Cricket Australia medical team, he has been almost ever-present since returning in 2017. Cummins missed a couple of Tests against Pakistan in 2018 owing to a back injury, one against West Indies in 2022 with a quad strain, and may have missed the Sri Lanka series earlier this year with an ankle problem if he hadn't already been on paternity leave.

"I've had a really good run the last half-a-dozen years or so of not missing too many games," he said. "For the first few years, I didn't know where my second Test was coming, so I still feel like I've got lots of miles in the legs.

"Back in the day, 300 [wickets] felt like you're close to the end. [Starc], he's almost [at] 400. So hopefully I don't feel like I'm going to end any time soon. The medical staff, I really need to thank, the way they looked after me in the early years and continually to get through a Test match, the way they manage the fast bowlers, a lot of that is a nod to them as well."

Cummins, who had removed Wiaan Mulder on the first evening, claimed all five South Africa wickets to fall to bowlers on the second day, the other being the run out of Keshav Maharaj. He broke South Africa's fightback in the morning session when Temba Bavuma drove to cover. After lunch, he was magnificent in a spell that finished 4.1-1-4-4.

There was the lbw to remove Kyle Verreynne after the pair clattered mid-pitch, a leading edge gathered off Marco Jansen, the outside edge off David Bedingham, and finally, Kagiso Rabada brilliant caught at deep square-leg to bring up the 300th.

At that moment, he held the fourth-best strike rate for a bowler with 300 Test wickets, behind Rabada, Dale Steyn and Waqar Younis. Overall, it gave him 79 wickets at 23.03 for this WTC cycle.