An extended run of T20 cricket has Aussie talisman Pat Cummins primed for his first ever competitive cricket in the Caribbean
Australia’s Pat Cummins says his T20 game is in the best spot it’s been in a decade and enters the World Cup with his confidence high following a successful Indian Premier League.
Cummins was one of the final members of Australia’s 15-man squad to link up with the team, landing in Barbados in the early hours of Saturday morning, five days out from Australia’s first match against Oman.
During Australia’s training session at a blustery Three Ws Oval on Monday, the Test and one-day international captain had his first bowl in the West Indies, not just for the tour, but ever, having never previously ventured to the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
Despite what might look like an inadequate preparation for a World Cup, the fast bowler has been building up for this tournament since the IPL began back in late March, and mentally, even earlier.
Back in November before the IPL auction, Cummins outlined his intention to use the tournament to “push a case to not only make the side but get back to how I feel like I can bowl in T20 cricket.”
He sold for A$3.67m at the auction the following month and proved to be a smash hit with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The 31-year-old was named skipper, played every match, took 18 wickets and guided his team to the final, leaving the fast bowler feeling extremely assured with how his short-form game is placed.
“Probably as well as I have for the last 10 years really,” Cummins told cricket.com.au of his T20 bowling on Monday.
“We played 17 games straight (at the IPL).
“For the most part, international T20s are after the Test series, and you’ve got to try and hit a yorker or a slower ball, and then go back to a Test series.
“So just getting the pace of the game and executing some of those balls that you need more in T20 cricket than in other formats, I feel really well placed.”
It’s not just the skill execution, because Cummins says sticking to the same format makes a “huge difference” to the tactical side of bowling too, as the plans for each spell and each delivery is so different from the other formats.
“A lot of T20 bowling in particular is about thinking through your sequencing of which ball to bowl or when, and I think over the course of the season you get to learn pretty quickly what’s working and what isn’t,” he said.
“Even if it doesn’t work first game, and you feel like it’s never going to work every game, but you know that if you zoom out over the course of the tournament it’s going to work for you. So it’s nice coming in here with that confidence.”
Cummins, who only enhanced his increasing leadership credentials as captain of Sunrisers, will now get to take a back seat as he slips on his national colours with good mate Mitch Marsh taking the reins for the T20 World Cup.
Marsh doesn’t have a great deal of T20 international captaincy, taking charge in just eight matches, but that won’t discourage the Aussies who will take inspiration in the fact that Cummins had led his country in only four ODIs heading into last year’s 50-over World Cup.
And Cummins doesn’t expect to be playing a major role when it comes to assisting Marsh both on and off the field.
“I’m obviously there to help him if he needs me but it’s Mitch’s show,” Cummins said.
“I’m certainly there to help … as are a lot of the senior guys, so he won’t be short of help if he needs it.”
2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia’s squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Australia’s Group B fixtures
June 6: v Oman, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 10.30am AEST
June 9: v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 3am AEST
June 12: v Namibia, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST
June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST
Super Eights, finals to follow if Australia qualify
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