Cummins did what good skippers are expected to do

Cummins has consolidated the theory—characteristically perpetuated by Mark Taylor—that the best Australian captains don’t crave the task, rather it falls into their lap

Pat Cummins has improved his already glowing reputation as an extremely competent captain of Australia.

In a series where the pitches have been a somnambulists’ dream, Cummins has done what can only be expected of a good skipper. Mostly by virtue of a declaration, he has laid the foundation for victory in the final two games against Pakistan. The demanding win finally achieved in the last Test gave Australia the victory and series win they’d been valiantly seeking for 10 days.

Most influential member

Cummins has consolidated the theory—characteristically perpetuated by Mark Taylor—that the best Australian captains don’t crave the task, rather it falls into their lap. Some queried Cummins’s captaincy credentials, but they overlooked two important factors; he was always a player who understood bowling and he was easily the most influential team member.

In the second aspect Cummins has once again excelled in being the equal most prolific wicket-taker, whilst doing so at comfortably Australia’s best average on really tough pitches.

Importantly, Cummins the leader ran the team and established a spirit that saw the side prepared to go into battle for the skipper. They remained competitive throughout the final two matches despite the punishment required to keep the opposition on edge.

Australia were able to eventually find success thanks to the magnificence of Usman Khawaja’s batting and the continual search for wickets that allowed Cummins’s team to finally claim all 20 in a match. The batting, which held sway for the bulk of the series was dominated by Khawaja, who Pakistan were unable to find a way to dismiss cheaply.

During the demanding series, finding  a suitable method to swing the old ball reached the obsession stage. It wasn’t until Nathan Lyon eventually unearthed a method for consistently dismissing batsmen on the final day that spin bowling took a front seat.

The effort put into swinging the old ball—strident shining and hiding of the delivery—posed the obvious question; why not use a  similar effort to provoke the new ball into moving?

Any successful efforts to swing the new ball continuously can help dispatch top order players, surely the primary objective in the search for victory. 

While Australia have a couple of standouts in Cummins and Mitchell Starc in swinging the old ball, there was little progress in the search for a second spinner to complement Lyon. Australia’s inability to replicate anything like the success of the late Shane Warne highlights a weakness in the system.

Warne’s strength and ability to bowl long probing spells played a large part in his success. Australia, which used to be the envy of the world in producing good wrist-spinners, needs to revise its vision in order to capture more Test wickets rather than rely heavily on containment.

While it’s difficult to achieve much in this regard before the next tour of India, a subtle change in Cummins’s approach will benefit Australia’s new found confidence overseas.

India’s best balanced attack

India at home have the best balanced attack where they still rely on spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to complement a strong pace bowling line-up. If Australia tend to rely too heavily on swinging the old ball to the detriment of seeking more traditional dismissals, it will become a hard series to win.

While Mitchell Swepson displayed potential, more has to be done to encourage his wicket-taking instincts if he’s to achieve success in India. Wrist-spinners are in demand in T20 games where batsmen are expected to keep the scoring rate moving. Captains like Cummins must expect good spinners to remove Test batsmen who are attempting to play a long innings.

Cummins has shown he’s a good captain who learned fast in demanding Pakistan conditions. He’ll be facing a much tougher team with a more cagey captain in Rohit Sharma when Australia next tours India.

India will be a searching test of Cummins’s leadership and a good guide to what Australia has learned under a Test captain on the rise.

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