Talking to the media ahead of the third Test match, against Pakistan, Australia captain Pat Cummins expressed his opinion about South Africa’s second-strong Test squad for the New Zealand tour.

South Africa’s squad for the New Zealand tour of February includes seven uncapped cricketers including captain Neil Brand, presumably to avoid a conflict with the SA20.

The Test series is scheduled to be played from February 4 to 17, and the cricketers are expected to reach some time before that. A chunk of that overlaps with the SA20, which will be played between January 10 and February 10.

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh recently voiced strong opinions about the South African squad, on Instagram as well as in an interview. He accused the administrators of “not caring” for Test cricket, and was surprised that the “ICC or the top countries who are making a lot of money don’t just have a regulation set fee for Test matches which is a premium.”

Pat Cummins, the current Australian captain, was asked about South Africa’s Test squad and the future of the format at the pre-match interview at Sydney. He was more optimistic than Waugh: “In some regards, I am a little bit worried at times, but at the same time T20 cricket has never had more supporters and I don’t think there have been more supporters in the world watching cricket.

“As a Test cricket lover, I wish everybody was watching Test cricket, but I’ve never seen cricket stronger than what it is at the moment. My hopes are that it’s even stronger than it is now, in 10 years time or 20 years time.

“I grew up absolutely loving Test cricket. I think it does go through phases. I know the South African team aren’t sending their strongest side. I’m hoping it’s a phase.

“I think in some regards leading to this Test summer, some of some of the question marks were against Pakistan and West Indies. We’ve had two fantastic Test matches against Pakistan, really well supported, big crowds.

“So I don’t think it’s in as dramatic decline as sometimes it gets spoken about, but I think there is an issue just with the amount of other cricket out there, obviously competition for talent is higher than it’s ever been.”

Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match awards, player interviews, analysis and much more.