Pat Cummins’ stats only tell half the story when it comes to his Ashes importance
Only two of Cummins’ 25 wickets were tailbacks. He dismissed India’s leading run-scorer four times throughout the nine innings and made India’s biggest partnership pay off three times.
In other words: quality. “Postman” delivered (better than postal, actually). The first two games of last summer’s series perhaps best demonstrated Cummins’ value in the color of contrast. In Perth, Cummins was out of the game despite taking on India’s top two run-scorers Pant and Reddy in the first innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli went on the offensive and India won. The second innings in Perth was the only time in the series that Cummins failed to bowl well and it meant curtains for Australia.
Pat Cummins celebrates after removing Rishabh Pant in last year’s Adelaide Test.Credit: Getty Images
Cut to Adelaide. On the second day, India were harboring hopes of taking a 2-0 lead until they faced Cummins in a weak and hungry mood. He removed Rahul in his first spell and came back just as India were threatening to fight back. His dismissals of Rohit and top scorer Reddy triggered a dramatic collapse with Cummins taking two more wickets, shifting the momentum of the series towards Australia.
In other words, the timing of their contributions was as important as the truth. Cummins handed the ball to him as India built a partnership. When the momentum needed to be reversed, it was Cummins who put himself on India’s path and got them back to where they started.
He doesn’t drop catches on the field and kept his head in the decisive moment of the Melbourne Test when Kohli and Jaiswal were confused. Postman delivered the ball solidly for the run-out that sank India.
Cummins topped the world bowling rankings with 80 wickets at 23.48 in the last two-year Test championship cycle, but his batting has been an underrated element of Australia’s success. His 41 runs against India in Melbourne were critical to Australia’s eventual victory.
Cummins has also increased his versatility with the bat. For a few years he was a rich man’s Glenn McGrath; he was studious and earnest as he rattled the sour points on his cannon blade.
He has taught himself to scramble in recent times and made Australia’s bold statement in Brisbane with 22 from 10 balls.
India have been Australia’s biggest rivals in recent Test cricket, but their other form lead for the upcoming Ashes series is the latter. This also reveals a lot about Cummins’ influence.
England targeted the bowling and went above and beyond Australia again in the final days of the series when they got Cummins in the first innings at Edgbaston.
Cummins and Sam Konstas celebrate Australia’s victory over India in the Boxing Day Test last summer.Credit: Getty Images
Cummins’ Ashes return was 18 wickets at an expensive 37.72 apiece, while 13 of his wickets were by established batsmen, with Joe Root his most frequent victim, followed by Ben Stokes and Harry Brook. The man is coming, the bigger man is coming. He also had one of his best runs with the bat; 162 runs (including the match-winning 38 and 44 at Edgbaston).
This calculation does not take into account what Cummins’ presence and leadership adds to any team he plays for. His team-mates are confident in his character and Mitchell Starc’s bowling has particularly benefited from having Cummins alongside him. Starc’s resurgence as an attacking force over the last two years owes much to his partner’s determination.
Every Jeff Thomson needed a Dennis Lillee and every Brett Lee needed a McGrath. It must be very reassuring to go out on the field knowing that a player almost never has a bad day.
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If this brilliant CV is starting to look like a bleak prospectus for Australia, it is. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t have won the Ashes without Cummins; margins of error are significantly narrowed. Without Cummins, many other parts of Australia’s game must proceed as planned.
Running in the top three has now become a necessity, which can be a nice bonus.
And Nathan Lyon, who had to step in only when needed last summer, will need to play long, tight spells and take English wickets. This is all achievable, but much more difficult without Cummins.
One last footnote. This year and last year, after a break from the Indian Premier League, Cummins showed his mettle in 30 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Australian cricket’s think tank probably already knows where, when and how Cummins’ back started breaking due to the stress of playing, training and travelling.
He has played a lot of cricket since returning from a six-year back injury in 2017. It is somewhat thought-provoking to see how the long-term costs play out in the fine balance that must be made between income and prosperity, between the IPL and the Ashes. Australia’s Ashes campaign could be where the bill comes due.
