Following Australia’s 6-wicket win in the first Test match against South Africa in Brisbane, Australian skipper Pat Cummins heaped massive praise on his teammate Mitchell Starc for his outstanding contribution to Australia in Test Cricket for a number of years.
The left-arm pacer recently joined the 300-wicket club in the longest format of the Test on Sunday. He reached the feat after accounting for the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen with a peach of a delivery.
With that, he now finds his name in the elite list, which also features the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, teammate Nathan Lyon, Dennis Lillee, and Mitchell Johnson.
“He just keeps impressing,” said Cummins after Australia completed a six-wicket win over the Proteas in two days.
“The longevity to take 300 wickets in over 10 years — I think he just keeps going to a different level.
“You saw him (bowling) around the wicket, nipping the ball away. That’s a new skill for him.
“Absolute huge member of our team and he continues to get better and better.” Cummins added.
Mitchell returned with figures of 3 for 41 in 14 overs in the first innings and, overall, claimed 5 in the Test match.
Pat Cummins, on the other hand, picked only two wickets for 35 runs in 12.2 overs during South Africa’s first innings. However, the Australia captain wreaked havoc with the ball on Day 2 as he claimed 5 wickets for just 42 runs in 12.4 overs.
His outstanding spell helped the team bundle out South Africa for just 99 runs, thereby winning the Test match by 6 wickets. The second Test of the three-match series is scheduled to be played from 26th December to 30th at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.
