Cummins accepts change is on the cards as Australia come up short again

Pat Cummins has said changes to Australia's Test side will need to be considered in the wake of their 2-1 loss against South Africa, as he bemoaned his team's lack of ruthlessness. However, he stood by his decision to bowl first at Newlands despite Simon Harmer spinning the home side to victory on the final day.

Australia slumped to a 176-run defeat in Cape Town to concede the series having taken a 1-0 lead in Durban. It was a third loss in their last five Tests (and fourth in seven back to the MCG against England last season) which has seen them relinquish the No. 1 spot in the rankings for the first time since May 2024 and dropped them to third in the World Test Championship table.

The stinging criticism of the side had already started while the final-day collapse was in process, with David Warner terming it "terrible" and "un-Australian" on Kayo Sports. "There's no fight whatsoever, it's disgraceful … I think it's deplorable but the batters have let the bowlers down the whole series," he said.

When those comments were put to Cummins, he said: "I don't even know what I make of that."

Australia's next Test series is against New Zealand, starting on December 9 in Perth, with Marnus Labuschagne's position seemingly untenable after he made 0 and 4 in Cape Town to make it 16 innings without a half-century. Steven Smith will return if he overcomes his neck injury but, if that's a direct swap for Labuschagne, it will require another reshuffling of the batting order. And while Australia's attack is one of the greatest of all time, there will be scrutiny over how they laboured to bowl South Africa out in the second innings having also started poorly on the first day.

"I think it's always the case after losing a series [that changes are talked about], and it's probably fair, we lost two games in a row," Cummins said. "It's fair to be asking those questions, we'll be asking them internally as well. We are a very good side, but I think we need to get a little bit better if we want to get back to No. 1 ... so maybe that's a change of style, maybe it's a change of personnel in some instances. Give us a couple of weeks and work it out."

Cummins believed that bowling South Africa out for 329 on the opening day had put Australia "right ahead of the game". having clawed the home side back from a flying start where they were 140 without loss at lunch. At the toss, Temba Bavuma said he would have batted and, after the match, added things had worked out perfectly for his team.

"I think the opportunity for us to bat first on that surface worked in our favour," Bavuma said. "It's been a while since seeing a pitch on day five at Newlands turn like that. Like a lot of things you need a little bit of luck to go your way. We obviously understand the conditions. We probably would have batted first but in saying that you still need to play proper cricket."

Cummins said: "You're always weighing up different things. On this pitch, I think we knew it was going to be high scoring. We probably thought it was going to do a little bit more on day one than it did, but you don't win the toss and think you're going to bowl the opposition out for 100 or 200."

Australia felt the target of 288 was within their grasp before the start of play, with Cummins telling the broadcast that the plan was not to get too far ahead of the game. "Obviously, it might be a little bit of spin up one end, but I think for the most part, being really confident that you can [trust] your own game that you can bat a long time here," he told Kayo Sports.

Around six hours later, he was left to explain their second major collapse in four innings after the 99 all out in the first innings at St George's Park. "[There were] a few poor decisions," he said, echoing his views from the previous match. "I know it was a day-five wicket but I don't think it was drastic, there were runs to be scored out there, there was lots of balls to face. So, again, I think a few decisions that the boys would have liked back. We've got to get better, it's happened a few times, but as I said I think when we turned up we thought that chase was very achievable.

"There's some pretty good bowlers that you're coming up against, so you're never going to be perfect, there's going to be some error rate against a high-class attack that were fresh. But a lot of it was managing those tempos. That new ball was going to be a key period, that's one of the times where it does feel like there's a little bit of seam movement, the catchers behind that might come into the game, but if you can just get through that period, it does get a little bit easier against the quicks.

"Everyone had a little bit of a different plan. There was a bit of rough there, but perhaps we overplayed the spin, we could have backed our defence a little bit longer, again those little things, you hang in there and you find a way, whereas I just think a lot of the times we just didn't really give ourselves a chance."

Cummins admitted to regret at having seen the series slip away after Durban, given many of this side won't return to South Africa for another Test series.

"It was 1-0 up in the series. I think we had some great moments," he said. "Two or three days of this Test match. I don't know when it's on the Future Tours Programme [again] so I dare say it's our last chance to come over here for a lot of us. It's one opportunity we've been speaking about for a long time to come and play a big series, and we weren't good enough."