Hurting Aussies battling to lift
CRICKET: 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 had been sapped out of the Australians as the Proteas edged closer to an historic Test win.
Cummins stepped up in the absence of Mitch Starc, bagging 5-83, but was unable to stop the Proteas getting to 488 in their first innings.
“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.
“I know when it started yesterday I was a bit weird not seeing Davey (David Warner) and Smithy (Steve Smith) and Bangers (Cameron Bancroft) out there, but I think we’ve been pretty good.”
Saker said the past week had clearly rattled the team.
“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 tough,’’ Saker said.
“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.”