Ashes 2023: How Pat Cummins quiet Australians have flipped the script
Pat Cummins’ Australia has had plenty of opportunity to bite back at England. That the side hasn’t puts it in stark contrast with Australian teams of the past, writes DANIEL CHERNY.
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At the apex of Scott Morrison’s political career – the Liberal party’s highly unlikely win in the 2019 Federal election – the then Prime Minister dedicated his victory to a group he dubbed “the quiet Australians.”
It seems Morrison wasn’t averse to making labels for groups. It later emerged that he started a WhatsApp group for himself as well as Tim Paine and Justin Langer, at the time the captain and coach respectively of the Australian men’s side. Morrison called the groups “Legends.” When Pat Cummins replaced Paine as Australian skipper, the paceman would occasionally become confused given he was already in a WhatsApp group of the same title with his fellow Aussie quicks.
Langer is no longer in his role, and neither is Morrison.
Cummins remains captain. Given his public views on certain issues it seems unlikely he would draw too much inspiration from Morrison. But as things have turned out, Cummins has ended up leading his own “quiet Australians.”
For a country that spawned Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and David Warner, this Aussie team’s manners are as mild as lemon and herb sauce.
It’s not that they aren’t talking. It’s not that they aren’t confident. But there is no sense of the punchy or provocative traits that often epitomised Australian sides.
Up against the shock-value of Bazball, they are playing, calm, measured and attritional cricket. And with a World Test Championship crown and 1-0 Ashes lead, it is working so far.
It is not that Australia hasn’t been given opportunities to fire bullets. England has issued no shortage of fighting words. In the week since the Aussies snuck home in a classic at Edgbaston, Zak Crawley, Ollie Robinson and Brendon McCullum have all made remarks at which Australia could quite reasonably have bitten back.
But if the Aussies are tempted to stoke the flames, they are not showing it. Cummins, disarming as ever, smiled when asked about the verbal volleys of the past seven days.
“Ah, yeah, a few things have come across the desk,” Cummins said.
“I think it’s a standard Ashes series really. There’s always talk. I’ve played a few of them now and I haven’t really been surprised.”
Cummins is sort of right, because without the pantomime war, is there really an Ashes at all? The difference is that usually Australia is giving at least as good as it is getting on the scale of chirp, and often the lion’s share.
From the producer that gave us Michael Clarke’s “broken f***** arm” line, Nathan Lyon talking about his goal of ending England players’ careers, Warner labelling a Jonathan Trott dismissal “poor and weak” and McGrath’s rite of passage 5-0 series predictions, we are getting … not a great deal.
Lyon was goaded into saying 5-0 was possible ahead of this tour, while Warner joked about Stuart Broad needing to be selected for the first Test before becoming a threat to the opener, however it has all been incredibly tame by Australian standards.
The barbs have been left to former greats, most notably Hayden and Clarke on radio spots, where the tongues tend to be a bit looser.
Is it a legacy of the culture review of 2018, a reaction to the Paine and Langer scandals, or just a byproduct of even-tempered leadership from Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald? Like most things, it’s probably a mix.
But if you’re looking for lip from those in baggy greens, don’t go holding your breath.
Lyon wouldn’t bite when given the chance on Monday at Lord’s, ahead of what is his 100th straight Test.
“I haven’t followed it to be honest … personally, I just really want to make sure that I’m staying connected obviously with my family and friends,” Lyon said.
As for the captain. Well if Morrison once said he doesn’t hold a hose, then Cummins doesn’t start fires.
“Headbutting the line? Was that the term a few years ago?” Cummins said, reminding the world of pre-Cape Town sensibilities.
“Yeah, perhaps, every Ashes series I’ve played there’s always been a bit of a tit for tat. You’ve seen our team over the last couple of years. Everyone is pretty comfortable in their own skin.
“There aren‘t too many headlines coming from our team that perhaps maybe there were back in the day.”
This team seems mainly concerned with one headline: AUSTRALIA WINS.
Originally published as Ashes 2023: How Pat Cummins quiet Australians have flipped the script
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