Has Temba Bavuma been Pat Cummins's bunny in Tests? (Stats)
What's the story
Australian captain Pat Cummins put on a stellar performance in the 2025 ICC World Test Championship final at Lord's despite his team's five-wicket loss to South Africa. He took seven wickets in the match, including a stunning 6/28 in the first innings. Notably, he dismissed opposing captain Temba Bavuma in both innings of the match. Here we decode Bavuma's struggles versus Cummins in the Test format.
Dismissals
Cummins dominated his counterpart
Bavuma was going well in SA's first innings before Cummins trapped him for 36. His dismissal ignited a collapse as SA went from 94/4 to 138/10. Meanwhile, the SA skipper played a stellar innings of 66 runs off 134 balls in the fourth innings despite battling with a hamstring injury. Though Cummins trapped him on this occasion as well, SA accomplished the 282-run target to win the game.
Milestone
Cummins joins elite list
The last time a captain dismissed his counterpart twice at Lord's was in 2006, when Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene fell to Andrew Flintoff of England. As per ESPNcricinfo, Cummins overall became the fifth captain to trap his opposite number twice at the 'Mecca of Cricket'. Monty Noble, who was the first captain to achieve this feat at Lord's in 1909, is the only other Australian on this prominent list.
Information
Cummins vs Bavuma in numbers
Overall, Cummins has dismissed Bavuma thrice across 11 Test meetings as the South African talisman has managed just 76 runs in this battle at 25.33. Among Australians, only Nathan Lyon has trapped Bavuma on more occasions (4 times) in Tests.
Bavuma
Second-best average in this cycle
Meanwhile, Bavuma finished as SA's joint-highest run-scorer in the 2023-25 cycle, having mustered 711 runs from eight games. His average of 59.25 was the second-best among 153 batters who played at least five innings. Meanwhile, Bavuma's tally includes five fifties and two tons as 113 was his best score. No other batter with at least 300 runs as captain in this cycle averaged even 40.
Leadership impact
Captain Bavuma leads from the front
Bavuma's captaincy was also been crucial to South Africa's success. He now shares the record for most wins (9) in their first 10 Tests as captain with England's Percy Chapman. Notably, SA had clinched just one of their first five Tests in this cycle before winning seven on the bounce. The win in the final made SA the first team to win eight matches on a bounce in WTC history.
Cummins
Cummins topped the wicket-taking table
Meanwhile, Cummins finished as the top wicket-taker of the cycle. He was supreme for Australia throughout their campaign, having tallied 80 wickets from 18 matches at an average of 23.48. He managed six five-wicket hauls and four four-wicket hauls. His 6/28 in the final was his best performance. This edition also saw him become the first bowler to accomplish 200 WTC wickets.