He’s back to where it all started – South Africa.
In the warm-up match, Pat Cummins gave a glimpse of what could be in the future through the Test series against South Africa as he held the tail to provide a 109 lead against the Proteas.
He added 47 with Mitchell Starc (18), 64 with Nathan Lyon (38) and 30 with Josh Hazlewood (26) in 141 minutes at the crease to further strengthen his claim as a bowling all-rounder.
This performance went with his hostile spell of bowling in the first innings where he bagged 4-32.
His knock of 42, 44, 41 in Ashes gave the batsmen the support they wanted from bowling all-rounder. And not to forget those runs go with 23 English wickets. The Australian Test captain called him the complete package.
He swings the ball both ways, bowls frightening bouncers, can reverse the old ball and even good slower ones and on his package of batting and great athletic abilities, no doubt the captain is going to be fond of him.
With Starc, Cummins at 8,9 and Hazelwood to follow at No.10 Australia have a long tail and if the tail wags it could frustrate the opposition by keeping them in the field longer, which is what Australia could do by the runs Cummins made during the Test series.
His batting prowess was evident when he burst onto the scene in South Africa in 2011 where he was calm under pressure to hit the winning runs. Injuries, unfortunately, would make him wait until 2017 to add another Test cap but since then he has played nine consecutive Tests and still bowls at full pace.
He is just 24 and will get better with each day in the cricket field. His defence is only too good for a number 9, in fact, better than Mitch Starc which is going to help him bat in subcontinent conditions.
He showed glimpses of that in the fourth match of the series where he managed to get a significant 21 runs in the first innings and frustrated the bowlers in the second innings by reaching 12 off 49 balls.
In the coming time with more exposure in the cricket field and facing top quality batting, he is going to improve his batting too. His bowling rhythm, given how it’s going for him, will no doubt will help him clock 150 kmph and what he will bring to the table with his best years ahead of him makes him a superstar in the making if he keeps himself fit.
Australia has got a massive job on their hands to manage Cummins’ workload. If they do so, the sky shouldn’t be the limit but the target for him.
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