DURBAN, Oct 13 : Australia captain Pat Cummins felt his side showed the requisite grit and determination as they overcame hosts South Africa to win by 214 runs in the first test at Kingsmead on Tuesday.
Before the match, Cummins had called for his side to be better at grinding out results in test cricket, rather than relying on strong individual performances.
While Matt Renshaw's heroics proved the major contributor to their victory, the skipper hailed the all-round effort.
Australia had been in a precarious position at 124-6 on the first day but Renshaw's 190 runs saw them score 390 in their first innings and they dominated proceedings after that.
They finished with Josh Hazlewood taking six wickets to see South Africa bowled out before tea on the last day.
“It’s just a great way to kick off a series overseas, which is always tough because you never quite know what you're going to get, but I think particularly from the position we were on day one, six wickets down, to then, mainly through Renshaw, claw our way back, kind of grinding it out,” said Cummins
“And then once we had the lead, not giving it back. Sometimes when we’ve got that far in front, I feel like we haven't been as ruthless as we can be, but I think our standards were very high for the last three or four days and that was very satisfying,” he added.
Much had been made about the team selection, notably the inclusion of Nic Maddinson as opener after a decade out of test cricket and dropping Renshaw down the order. The criticism got even louder after Maddinson failed to score in the first innings.
“I feel like there's always a bit of conversation going on at the start of a big test series, so I don't feel any different because of that,” Cummins said, resisting any temptation to gloat.
“We're always big on how the batting order functions.
“For someone like Matt, it was good to see him get a bit of time out there in the middle. I still think he can be a great opener and now he's got another string through his bow that he's found this week.
“Kudos, again, to the selectors. Whenever they’re presented with a problem, it's how they go about solving it,” he added.