Australia vs Pakistan: Pat Cummins’ team fighting their own to stay relevant this summer

Had it not been for Usman Khawaja’s shoe dramas, many Australians would not have known the Test summer starts against Pakistan. This, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK, is Australia’s toughest battle.

Pat Cummins’ Australians have conquered the world … now they must conquer Australia.

Had it not been for Usman Khawaja’s shoe dramas, many Australians would not have known the Test summer starts against Pakistan in Perth on Thursday.

This is a most unusual summer.

In a wacky sort of way, Australia’s rivals are not so much Pakistan, which has lost 14 Tests in a row in Australia, or the poor old West Indies.

It’s the NRL rugby league launch in Las Vegas. It’s the story of how Eddie Jones moves in so many different ways he can hide behind a corkscrew.

It’s speculation of a rugby league team in Papua New Guinea, netball’s uncivil war, Connor Rozee’s eight-year deal with Port Adelaide and Jon Rahm joining LIV golf.

It’s anything and everything that tugs eyeballs away from this summer’s chilli-sauce-craving Test menu.

Pat Cummins addresses the media before the first Test of the summer. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Fox Cricket’s Kerry O’Keeffe last week urged people to show their passion for cricket.

He quipped that he’d had quite enough of reading last month about which club rugby league prop Addin Fonua-Blake may or may not play for … in 2027!

Good on him. O’Keeffe’s passion for the game is bottomless and he well remembers the days when cricket owned the summer in a way that Elvis owned a stage.

In bygone generations, the sport never really had to promote itself in summer. It WAS summer.

Pakistan great Wasim Akam and Ravi Shastri spoke at the Fox launch about their bewilderment that Pat Cummins could arrive home with the World Cup to be greeted by two men and a dog at Sydney airport.

If that was Rohit Sharma they would have carried him through the streets of Mumbai and India would still be celebrating.

The official launch of the NRL’s push into Las Vegas. Credit: NRL Images.

When India won the 50-over World Cup in 1983, a video package of the heist topped the bestseller’s list when it was released – wait for it – 16 years later.

This excellent Australian team has become a victim of the almost unreachable standards set by the golden generation before it that trampled the world for a decade between 1995-2005.

Australian journalists touring England for the Ashes often remark that cricket gets an ever-narrowing window of a couple of months to totally shine because of the way the English Premier League season devours both ends of the season.

The back pages are hijacked by big numbers and massive personalities.

Cricket is fighting a similar war in Australia and must never take publicity for granted.

Originally published as Australia vs Pakistan: Pat Cummins’ team fighting their own to stay relevant this summer