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Pity cotton-wool Cummins

Pat Cummins bowls for Australia. (AFP PHOTO / THEO KARANIKOS)
Expert
7th December, 2016
38

When expressman Pat Cummins wore the baggy green for the first time, he was the second youngest in Australian Test cricket history at 18 years and 193 days behind Ian Craig’s 17 years and 239 days.

Not only did Cummins win the man-of-the-match award in Johannesburg at the Wanderers with 1-38 off 15 and a match defining 6-79 off 25, but he scored the winning runs with an unbeaten 13 in partnership with an unbeaten 40 from Mitchell Johnson for Australia to win a nail-biter by two wickets.

He was immediately acclaimed a prodigy, the cricket world was his oyster.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Pat Cummins hasn’t played his second Test yet, five years and a month later.

And according to Cricket Australia, thanks to his long history of debilitating back stress fractures, Cummins will only play limited-over cricket this summer.

To add to Cummins’ frustration, Cricket Australia has dumped him from the elite contracted squad – a very costly decision.

To Cummins’ credit he’s still smiling, working on the basis it’s better to play some cricket than watch it on television at home as he recuperated from constant rehab.

But it begs the question, is Cricket Australia being cruel to be kind?.

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In a perfect world, the super-keen Cummins would dearly love to play for his country in all three formats, but in his case it’s very much an imperfect world.

Given the option, Cummins would take the baggy green to be selected in the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba starting a week today, even if it meant being rested from tomorrows third and final ODI against New Zealand at the MCG.

Cummins could see out the summer playing Test cricket and Sheffield Shield for NSW, and give the limited-over season a miss.

And Cricket Australia should again promote Cummins to elite contracted status, as he richly deserves.

There’s an interesting comparison between Pat Cummins and Ian Craig, with one glaring exception – Cummins is playing in a fully professional era, Craig played in a totally amateur era where cricket was second fiddle to a career.

Craig wasn’t only the youngest baggy green, he was also the youngest to play Sheffield Shield at 16 years and 249 days, while still a student at North Sydney High, the youngest to score a first class double century at 17, and the youngest Australian Test captain at 22 years and 194 days

But Craig had vastly different problems during his career, with Pharmacy studies at Sydney Uni, and national service, dramatically cutting into his appearances.

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It took a severe bout of hepatitis to prematurely end his career at 11 Tests with a batting average of just 19.88, way way below his elegant natural ability.

I was only just 20 when I first had the privilege of often batting in Mosman first grade with “The Colt”. He was only four years older, and already a veteran of first class cricket.

Over the next decade, I constantly marvelled at how quickly he picked up line and length, and how quickly he moved his feet into position before he effortlessly stroked the ball to the boundary, all along the deck and piercing the field.

Only Mark Waugh and David Gower were Craig-like in latter years, and always a delight to watch in full flight.

So between Craig and Cummins, there’s a lot of history.

But history wasn’t kind to Ian Craig, hopefully it will be kinder to Pat Cummins.

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