Pat Cummins has found an unlikely ally in England leader Ben Stokes, with his arch-rival labelling calls to strip the Australian of the captaincy as unwarranted.
Cummins has remained unfazed by criticism in the past week, brushing aside calls from the likes of Darren Berry that he should resign as captain.
Test greats Mark Waugh and Glenn McGrath have also questioned the quick’s ability to captain and lead the bowling attack, after Australia’s poor Test in Manchester.
But Stokes was beyond surprised to learn of any calls for Cummins to step aside when asked ahead of Thursday’s final Test, bemused at the very thought of the idea.
“I’m not sure why someone would say he should give it up,” Stokes said.
Pat Cummins bowls as Ben Stokes watches on. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
“I think he’s done a great job for Australia. I don’t know who has made those comments but I think he’s done a great job for Australian cricket, taking over at the time he did.
“It’s probably a little bit unwarranted from whoever said that, and that’s coming from an Englishman to an Australian.”
Cummins has made clear this week he has no plans to step aside as skipper.
In his first two years as captain, Cummins has taken Australia to 11 Test wins and lost four.
They have also won the Ashes at home, have a chance to do so away at The Oval this week and claimed the World Test Championship mace last month.
As a bowler Cummins has also taken 114 wickets in 20 Tests at an average of 24.61, with only a slight rise in his average compared to before the captaincy.
Cummins has been the first to admit he did not get it right in last week’s Manchester draw, as Australia lost control of the match and England 592 in their only innings.
But the 30-year-old also believes he will leave England a better captain after the Ashes.
“I hope so. I’ve certainly been exposed to more,” Cummins said.
“Some teams have seen passages of play which I haven’t seen before. Having nine fielders out.
“Hopefully I can adapt a bit more and a bit quicker for this week.Hopefully I’m a bit better.
“I don’t think I was at my best last week but hopefully I’ll be better this week.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain praised Cummins for his effort to physically get through the jam-packed schedule as a fast bowler while also shouldering the captaincy burden.
But he has not been impressed with his captaincy by committee in the field with vice-captain Steve Smith and several senior players regularly meeting with Cummins to discuss tactics.
“There was a bit of captaincy by committee at Old Trafford, where Australia lost the plot when England were batting. But that can happen in Test cricket, and until then Cummins’s body language and his durability had been exceptional,” Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“He may well have overdone the short ball in Manchester, especially when Jonny Bairstow and Jimmy Anderson added 66 runs for the last wicket, but that is a nitpick. Having lost all four tosses and generally suffered the worst of the conditions, to be 2-1 up suggests he has done a very good job.”
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Pat Cummins is on the verge of an unwanted 118-year first as an Australian Test captain.
Only this time even his harshest critics can’t lay into the 30-year-old.
It involves the toss. Cummins is seemingly not very good at calling correctly.
In four Tests in this Ashes series, Cummins called tails. And on all four occasions heads won.
Another loss at The Oval in Thursday’s series finale would mark the first time an Australian captain has lost all five tosses in a five-Test series since Joe Darling in 1905.
Darling’s losing run in 1905 came after he broke a time-honoured tradition in the first Test, tossing his own coin as touring captain, and lost.
By the end of the tour England believed karma had come back to bite Darling.
But Cummins won’t change a thing come Thursday morning. There will be no trickery, or even a change of heart to call heads. “There’s been a lot of talk about it,” Cummins quipped. “Tosses are meant to be 50-50 but it’s amazing how people have theories on it.
“l’ll stick with tails I think. It would be courageous switching. … I think I’m sticking with tails.”
Cummins’ toss record is even worse when considering he also lost the toss in the World Test Championship final to India at The Oval last month.
But it also serves as a sign of the challenges Australia have faced while still 2-1 up in the series with one Test to play.
Pat Cummins. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Of the 18 Test series in history when a team had lost five coin tosses, only twice has the unlucky side managed to win the series.
That was in dour 1-0 Ashes series wins to England in 1953 and 1978-79.
Australia have routinely batted through the toughest circumstances in this Ashes series, with the ball moving much more under cloudy overheads in England.
England’s preference to bowl first if they win the toss will be crucial at The Oval with rain forecast in the hours before the match, making this call even more important for Cummins if Australia are to win the Ashes.
England skipper Ben Stokes is set to have surgery in a bid to fix his troublesome left knee.
He has not bowled in three of England’s five Tests this summer due to chronic tendonitis and is unlikely to roll the arm over in the final Test at The Oval with five specialist bowlers in the XI for the second match in a row.
Stokes is unsure when he will have the operation but he remains retired from ODI cricket so he will not be going to India later this year for the World Cup. His next assignment is likely to be in India when England tour for a five-Test series in January.
“Yeah, it’s something I obviously want to get sorted,” said Stokes.
“The time in which I’ve seen specialists and stuff like that there has been cricket around. So as it’s been manageable we’ve just cracked on. But I think that is a good time to have some serious conversations with medics around what is potentially something I could do to get a role in which I can bowl without having to worry about my knee. Those are conversations we will be able to have in that time off.”
Australia insist they can swing momentum back in their favour for the fifth Ashes Test, confident the Old Trafford horror show with the ball can be a one-off event.
Players have freely admitted this week they got out of jail in last week’s fourth Test, after wet weather washed out the last day and helped them retain the Ashes.
But Australia have been in no mood to celebrate in the three days since the draw.
There was no team song after being informed the match was drawn and the Ashes retained, nor any of the party videos that went viral in 2019.
Instead, the focus has been on becoming the first Australian men since 2001 to win an Ashes series outright in England.
And to do so, Australia know they must be far better than in Manchester last week.
England’s 592 at Old Trafford last week was the most destructive innings in Ashes history, going at 5.49 an over as Zak Crawley hit 189 at better than a run a ball.
It prompted captain Ben Stokes to since remark on Wednesday that it appeared as if Australia had run out of answers.
Australia have admitted that they need to review their tactics, which were widely criticised for being too straight and short for large portions of the innings.
England’s all-out attack also prompted suggestions the hosts could carry that momentum into The Oval, and run away with the match to level the series at 2-2.
But Travis Head is far from convinced that is the case.
“England will feel like they’ve got momentum from this week. But momentum has shifted the other way pretty quickly,” Head said.
“Momentum has shifted so much during each Test, not only just the series.
“That’s what’s made this series so good. That’s what’s made every Test match so good.”
Head was also adamant there had been no need for panic in Australia’s team after being so far behind the game in Manchester, having long known Bazball would at one stage click for England.
“There was always going to be a day when they outplayed us and it was going to look at bit chaotic,” Head said.
“That’s not dissimilar to everyone in international cricket. Everyone is going to have a day where you could be better.
“I don’t think it’s possible to go through with a perfect clean sheet, never look like you’re flustered or never look like you’re overwrought.”
Australia will likely stick with a similar side for The Oval, with Mitch Marsh looking fit to play and Cameron Green a chance to be squeezed out if spinner Todd Murphy is recalled.
England are unchanged, but also do not expect to have it all their own terms like they did in Manchester.
with AAP
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