Cummins is eclipsing Warne and McGrath

Pat Cummins has made the most prolific start to a Test career by an Aussie bowler in 42 years, outperforming champions such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson.

Not since Jeff Thomson back in the 1970s has an Australian bowler taken more than Cummins’s 66 wickets in his first 14 Tests. Cummins is statistically a long way ahead of where McGrath and Warne, Australia’s two greatest-ever bowlers, were at the same stages of their careers.

He will become the fastest Australian bowler to reach 100 Test wickets in the past 81 years if he can take 34 wickets in his next six Tests.

That’s entirely possible given Cummins has taken exactly that many wickets (34) in his past six Tests and Australia’s next two scheduled Test series are against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Wickets taken after 14 Tests

1. Pat Cummins: 66 wickets
2. Stuart MacGill: 66 wickets
3. Dennis Lillee: 63 wickets
4. Josh Hazlewood: 60 wickets
5. Ryan Harris: 58 wickets
6. Brett Lee: 57 wickets
7. Mitchell Johnson: 56 wickets
8. Shane Warne: 53 wickets
9. Jason Gillespie: 50 wickets
10. Craig McDermott: 49 wickets
11. Glenn McGrath: 47 wickets
12. Mitchell Starc: 45 wickets

I singled out Cummins as a Test star in the making after watching him in his long-awaited return to Test cricket in India 12 months ago.

In that piece I argued Cummins was the “rarest of cricketing commodities: a dynamic strike bowler who is also frugal”.

“Across the past 20 years, perhaps only Curtly Ambrose, Wasim Akram and Allan Donald have fit this bill as an aggressive Test bowler who physically intimidates the opposition, while also being economical,” I wrote.

(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

As I noted at the time, elite Test fast bowlers typically fit into one of two categories: intimidating quicks who tend to leak runs or frugal pacemen who choke the opposition into submission.

Not often does a bowler straddle both categories. But to this stage of his career Cummins is doing just that, with his economy rate of 2.92 runs per over much better than the likes of fellow speedsters Starc (3.42 runs per over) and Kagiso Rabada (3.30 runs per over).

Not since Jason Gillespie bowled consistently in the 140 to 150kmh bracket early in his Test career have Australia possessed such a quick – one who is forceful and menacing, while also being impressively economical.

Cummins’s ability to simultaneously attack and defend is a godsend for new skipper Tim Paine. Right now Cummins is like a potent amalgam of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – he boasts the dynamism and match-turning ability of Starc and the frugality of Hazlewood.

(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

What makes Cummins’s record to date even more remarkable is the fact he’s played two-thirds of his Tests away from home and had few easy matches so far. There are many bowlers in Test cricket who dominate at home but are far less effective overseas – in fact most of the ICC’s current top 20 ranked Test bowlers fit that description.

Not so Cummins. Nine of his 14 Tests have been away from home and seven of them have been in South Africa and India, which are easily the two best Test teams and own comfortably the two strongest batting line-ups.

In those seven matches in South Africa and India Cummins has hauled in an incredible 37 wickets at 22. Those would be amazing numbers for a star Test bowler in the prime of their career. For Cummins to perform like that in the embryonic stages of his first-class career – he’s played only 25 first-class matches, half the number of Rabada – is truly phenomenal.

Putting aside the stats-crunching for a moment, everything one needed to know about Cummins the cricketer and the individual was on display in the fourth Test. In the wake of the ball tampering scandal, the weight of the cricketing universe was crushing the Australians during that match.

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The stress was etched on the faces of most of the team. Cummins was an exception. Right until his final over he played with inspiring verve, as if the series was still there to be won and he was the man to win it. Not only did he score a 50 after coming to the crease with his side reeling at 6/96, but he also claimed match figures of 9/141. Meanwhile, his pace colleagues Josh Hazlewood and Chadd Sayers returned a combined haul of 2/273.

Last week I wrote that Cummins was now Australia’s best Test bowler. Today I’ll take that one step further – Cummins is now Australia’s best Test cricketer.

With Smith banned for the next 12 months, Cummins has become clearly Australia’s most valuable player. A Test bowling average of 23 and batting average of 20, all while he’s still just 24 years old and in the infancy of his red ball career.

Pat Cummins is special.