Pat Cummins says “in a perfect world” leading Australia in Test cricket would not be the first taste of captaincy for the likes of he and Marnus Labuschagne.
Pat Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne have been earmarked as leading candidates to be Australia’s next Test skipper, but the duo will lack captaincy experience unless their states come to the party.
Former skipper Michael Clarke has been a loud advocate for Cummins to lead the national side, having started his campaign in 2018 even before the Cape Town cheating scandal erupted.
Tim Paine has since entrenched himself in the Test XI and played a key role in the improvement of Australia’s off-field reputation and on-field performances.
But the conversation about who should lead Australia whenever the 35-year-old retires is still ongoing, having flared up when Steve Smith’s two-year leadership ban expired last weekend.
Paine was diplomatic when asked last week who should be the next captain, noting there are “a number of guys we can choose from” before rattling off the names of Smith, Cummins, Labuschagne, Travis Head and Alex Carey.
Cummins was appointed one of Paine’s deputies last year, while Labuschagne has thoroughly impressed Paine and national coach Justin Langer during his remarkable rise in recent months.
Neither has captaincy experience at the domestic level, with Labuschagne playing under Usman Khawaja at Queensland.
NSW, having won the most recent Sheffield Shield season under the leadership of Peter Nevill, are unlikely to install Cummins as skipper, not least because the gun paceman rarely plays Shield cricket because of his busy schedule and big workload.
“In the perfect world, your first experience of being captain – say Australian captain – you’ve (already) had quite a bit of experience leading and you know exactly what it entails,” Cummins said.
“But things don’t always work out exactly as you planned.
“You don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes, especially someone like Nevvy, who has just won a Shield for NSW.
“In the last year or so, just being vice-captain … I’ve learnt a lot that way.”
Cricket Australia (CA), branded “dictatorial’ in a scathing independent review that followed the sandpaper-gate affair, has improved its relationship with the states and would be reluctant to tell Cricket NSW or Queensland Cricket what to do.
Leadership decisions are hardly a priority for the states at the moment; domestic contract discussions are on hold ahead of CA’s delayed announcement of national contracts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cummins was delighted to hear Paine rates him as captaincy material, but added the topic remains a moot point while the keeper is still playing.
“It’s nice to hear, (I) don’t think it makes me want it more or less,” Cummins said.
“I kind of feel it’s not quite right talking about captaincy now.”
Cummins is expected to top CA’s contract list for 2020-21 whenever it is announced, underlining his importance to Langer’s team.
joss heddle-bacon
Roar Rookie
Plus, NSW may recommend Steve Smith instead of Cummins anyway...
JohnB
Guest
And to be fair you changed some of the names and numbers also. If you were in academia, having published the 50-odd articles, you'd now combine the cricket articles and the league articles and also publish 2 books. That many more publications on your resume!
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Katich when doing his after dinner speeches says he doesn't regret anything except it took a week to get the fake tan off his hands after grabbing Clarke around the throat!
matth
Roar Guru
Not true! Across two codes I’ve managed to do it nearly 50 times :stoked:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
It was relayed to me from a speech, made by Thommo, at a cricket gathering. Apparently some collar-grabbing was involved.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
I first heard Ian Chappell push this view many years ago.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Katich was the author of this view.
Paul
Roar Guru
I agree with the word you used for Head"perhaps". It wasn't that long ago we almost had a production line of guys learning the job through State cricket and vice captaincy,then taking on the role. Right now we're in a bad place for a genuine leader of the Test team, IMO.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
I think Clarke was a selector when captain which are 2 hats which shouldn't go together. Katich might also share this view. :happy:
AREH
Roar Guru
Head has already been afforded the vice-captaincy, and began leading SA from a very young age. Should he continue to lock down his place with the bat through Australia's next few series, perhaps he is the one.
Paul
Roar Guru
"Former skipper Michael Clarke has been a loud advocate for Cummins to lead the national side". I'm a fan of any player in a team being made captain but to suggest Cummins should be the next Test captain with zero experience in similar roles, makes no sense. The reality is, right now we have exactly no suitable candidates for this role, Steve Smith included. I truly hope Michael Clarke never gets a chance to be a selector.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
It's hard to see why a state team would give the captaincy to a bloke who is likely to miss much of the shield season due to national duties. It makes more sense for them to give it to someone who isn't likely to get called up for Oz.
JGK
Roar Guru
Look at matth, he’s done the same article 20+ times by only changing one letter! :stoked:
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yes, true. :stoked: They put in a few new sentences, erased a couple...and voila! A brand new article! :silly:
JGK
Roar Guru
Welcome to sports websites in the age of Corona Virus.
Micko
Roar Rookie
This is essentially the same article we had the other day isn't it? :thumbdown: