There has been a bit of armchair commentary suggesting that Pat Cummins was too timid and conservative when declaring Australia’s second innings closed at the SCG.
Among the comments were suggestions from players of the past that they would have definitely declared earlier, as well as comments from others suggesting our great captains of the past would never have left the declaration so late.
To test this, let’s have a look at the declaration record of the player acknowledged as our greatest captain in the past 40 years, Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor.
It turns out that based on Taylor’s own captaincy record, there is no guarantee he would have declared any earlier than Cummins, and in fact may even have pushed on a bit.
As captain, Taylor declared Australia’s second innings closed 12 times. One of those was a token declaration when leading by 256, leaving the other side to finish 2-80 in an inevitable draw. That leaves 11 other declarations to examine.
Mark Taylor (Credit: Mike Hewitt /Allsport/Getty Images)
On those other 11 occasions, Taylor declared with a lead of less than 320 only twice (a 287 lead in Hobart in 1997 versus New Zealand and a 318 lead in Brisbane in 1997 versus New Zealand).
He declared with a lead of less than 350 only a further two times (a 339 lead in Sydney in 1996 versus the West Indies and a 347 lead in Brisbane in 1998 versus England).
These are over the ‘no one wins from there’ threshold that many like to put forward.
Unlike Cummins, on none of these occasions did Taylor declare both his first and second innings closed.
Captains who declare twice and lose tend not to be forgotten. I can only think of two captains who’ve done it without taking money from bookies: Sir Garfield Sobers and Adam Gilchrist.
On the other seven occasions when Taylor declared, he did so with leads of 387, 400, 419, 442, 452, 468, and 507.
So ‘Tubby’ was no more adventurous than any other captain and was often content to grind the opposition to dust.
I should also point out that his first five declarations as captain were all in the 350-plus territory.
So he only got a bit more adventurous after he had been captain for a long time and also after Glenn McGrath emerged to accompany Shane Warne and give the captain absolute confidence in his bowling attack.
So let’s cut Cummins some slack. No way was he going to risk declaring twice and losing in his third ever Test in charge.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Only because the series was still up for grabs.
Rob
Guest
I think Starc had a couple of opportunities missed. What is Lyon’s role on the last day? Starc has played 66 Test and strike at under 50. Lyon has 105 with a strike rate of 64. In the last 3 years he is taking wickets at a strike rate of 68 and 2/3 of those wickets aren’t top 6 batsmen? He bowled less overs than Cummins and Boland on the last day?
Rob
Guest
I clearly remember Australia losing the Test at Headingly more than the wins? It burns like Steve Waugh’s loss to India enforcing the follow on. Cummins also had his best strike bowler ( Boland) nursing an injury and his GOAT go at over 5 am over in the first inning on top of struggling to get a top order batsman out in the series thus far? Swepson was the man he needed.
Rob
Guest
Because you knew what Taylor and Co had always done. Never give your opportunity to pull your pants down because the embarrassment lasts forever.
Rob
Guest
Harris drop a catch, Lyon miss a relatively simple run out and Paine make a ridiculously DRS in the lose to England at Headingly. Sometimes you don’t deserve to win.
sheek
Roar Guru
To all the armchair critics, Pat Cummins is the national test cricket team Baggy Greens captain, & you're not. Suck it up!
Rellum
Roar Guru
It would be more than that because those two overs took a long time.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Ha! :stoked:
HR
Roar Rookie
G'day.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Agree, of course. But when working out when to declare, you wouldn't decide that there's a significant difference between with 113 overs left (when Cummins eventually did) and 115 (the number left when when Khawaja reached his century).
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
The "Human Resources" department
matth
Roar Guru
But the 2 extra overs would have been on Day 4 to two set openers. They likely survive and then the day 5 scenario is exactly the same
matth
Roar Guru
But they likely would not have got 2.4 overs more at Anderson. Mostly likely the openers who had played themselves in would have survived those overs leaving exactly the same day 5 scenario
Rubbish Surf 69
Roar Rookie
Don't you think if they had 2.4 more overs at Jimmy Anderson they wouldn't have got him? It's all conjecture, but I think they had a good chance.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Who's HR?
Micko
Roar Rookie
Really, 4 points for a draw, and NOT 6? That's strange.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Wow, serious about no aussie test players born in 1973? Didn't know that! :shocked:
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
As I said, happy to cut him some slack. I’m just contesting the idea that a better decision couldn’t have been made. Or that avoiding a loss should have been the main priority.
Rellum
Roar Guru
One wicket to get, yes worth it
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Taylor first captained lots at Grade and NSW level, and played under a very creative Lawson at NSW. Ponting debuted in Test cricket at age 20, and was a seasoned Test player but without hands-on captaincy experience.