The Ashes 2021/22: Pat Cummins and Steve Smith are Australian cricket’s leadership odd couple
Pat Cummins used to sleep on Steve Smith’s couch. Now they’re leading Australia into an Ashes battle. Get the inside word on how they will work together again.
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Meet Australian cricket’s odd couple.
Pat Cummins’ friendship with Steve Smith started many years ago sleeping on the batsman’s couch, but now he’s leaning on his shoulder for support as Australia’s history-making fast bowling captain.
Sources say that when Cummins and Smith were interviewed a fortnight ago for the captaincy, both made it clear to Cricket Australia administrators that they wanted each other.
If they weren’t quite presenting as a joint ticket, it was the closest thing to it, as both identified they couldn’t do the main job without the other man in their corner.
Smith might have wanted to be captain, but he impressed the board with his willingness to commit to team Cummins, and in return Cummins emphasised to the panel that if he was to bust the 100-year stigma around fast bowlers as skippers, he wanted Smith as his lieutenant.
They are very different personalities – Cummins’ tertiary educated and mature people person – and Smith – a rare cricketing mind who understands the game on a different level to most.
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But together they complement each other and their respective strengths combine for the perfect mix of captain, with the ‘odd couple’ tipped to change the game for the better.
“Both of them if they continue to work together like they have I actually think it’s a huge opportunity for Australian cricket,” said mutual friend and Sydney Sixers captain, Moises Henriques.
“They’re close mates themselves and they’re two very different people and will bring completely different strengths to captaincy and leadership.
“Both have got great strengths in different areas and they can use each other beautifully like that.
“It’s exciting times for Australian cricket I think.
“Pat’s biggest strength is he’ll lead the way with his actions and off the field with the way he is as a person and a figure in the community. He’s a leader in that sense and for a long time he’s been the moral barometer of that Australian team. And he doesn’t take himself too seriously either.
“Then Steve has all the on-field and off-field experience of captaincy. I know there’s concerns in his camp about his role being taken out of context by media or commentators when he’s moving fielders, but I was really happy he accepted and took on the vice-captaincy anyway – it was a strong and selfless decision for him, because he didn’t need to.”
Australia is waiting with bated breath to see how it all works with Cummins’ effectively
giving Smith a license to on occasions make on-field decisions for the team as vice-captain – but the partnership is well grounded in the fact they’re genuine friends away from the field.
Neighbours in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Cummins and Smith frequent cafes together and barbecue at each other’s houses.
Cricketers spend so much time in each other’s pockets on tour it’s somewhat unusual for players to also relax socially together when at home – but Cummins and Smith are real mates.
There is confidence this will help them navigate the delicate balance between it being Cummins team, yet Smith providing him the help he needs to also balance being Australia’s spearhead bowler.
“We’ve been really good mates for a long time. When I just turned 18, Steve lived in the city and I lived back at home (at the foot of the Blue Mountains). So I would sleep on his couch occasionally to save driving,” said Cummins.
“But he’s a legend of the game, tactically he’s really, really switched on.
“He’s captained 30 odd Test matches for us so of course I’ll be leaning on him, he always comes up with different ideas.
“I’ll be having the final say as captain but I’ll be looking to him.”
Former Test captain Mark Taylor says their relationship is crucial because the dynamic between them will be so heavily scrutinised.
“I was interested to see he was very quick to mention Steve in his acceptance press conference, I think he’s going to feel very comfortable having Steve there who has captained Australia in the past and obviously he’s played a lot of cricket with him over the last 10 or 12 years,” said Taylor.
“I think that’s a smart move to obviously have someone who he can look to particularly in those overs where he’s got to bowl.
“Hopefully he can concentrate on taking wickets or at least apply some pressure and then have someone like Steve who can walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder and say, ‘mate have you thought of this, this and this?’”
TUBBY TELLS CRITICS TO CUT PAT SOME SLACK
Ben Horne
A no-holds barred honesty session with Mark Taylor has armed Pat Cummins with a captaincy creed first passed on by Allan Border three decades ago.
Taylor delivered the brutal truth to Cummins over a few beers back in March about the rugged road ahead of him as a history-defying fast bowling captain.
Cummins purposefully sought out Taylor for the old school meeting at a pub for his opinion on how difficult it would be for the Test spearhead to take on the responsibility of leading the nation – proving that while Tim Paine’s resignation was a shock, his successor isn’t taking over on a whim.
Taylor didn’t sugar coat the challenge facing Cummins, but walked away in no doubt about the 28-year-old’s capabilities as he offered the same parting message he received from Border in the early 1990s; to “just do it your way.”
“It was a very open chat, as you can imagine. He just wanted to know my thoughts. I was very honest with him,” Taylor told News Corp.
“I mentioned to him, as I’ve said quite publicly, that I think the hard bit for him is that time on the field when he’s captaining the side, when he’s bowling and working out when he should bowl, when he shouldn’t bowl and working with the other bowlers when he’s not bowling himself.
“As a former opening batsman who fielded at slip, it was a lot easier to do than it will be for a bowler running in and puffing trying to get wickets.
“I honestly don’t know how he’s going to handle it, but he’s going to have to come up with a way of doing it and we talked a lot about having a good deputy and he’s got that in Steve Smith.”
Taylor said he was impressed by Cummins’ first press conference where he went out of his way to explain the revolutionary approach he is taking to Test captaincy, which will be to hand the reins over to Smith to move fields and even make bowling changes if he needs a rest in the field.
The game plan of integrating Smith was part of the discussion over a couple of beers, but it also reflected the advice Taylor got from Border which shaped his own successful captaincy.
Border regretted giving coach Bob Simpson such a major say during his time as captain, and told Taylor to be his own man.
Given the joint-captaincy approach with Smith is sure to be heavily critiqued by commentators and past captains, Taylor says it’s now imperative that Australia’s new skipper follows that same Border mantra.
“I remember when I took over from AB for a couple of one-dayers against the West Indies in 1992-93, AB said to me, ‘Tub, just do it your way.’ I think that’s what you’ve got to do and that’s why I think Pat has done the right thing in his first press conference because he’s already earmarked how he’s going to do it,” said Taylor, with Cummins also taking extensive advice about captaincy over the past couple of years from Steve Waugh.
“I talked to Pat about his relationship with a vice-captain whoever that would be, and obviously Steve’s name was certainly mentioned in those conversations.
“I think the biggest thing we are all going to have to get over, and particularly us past captains and commentators, is that it’s going to be a change from the norm.
“We’ve never had a (long-term) fast bowling captain. Past captains, people like me and Ian Chappell who work in the media, Greg Chappell, we are used to seeing things done a certain way and generally … if someone else was to move a field we would see that as potential undermining of the captain.
“And that’s not going to be the case now.”
Taylor is convinced that if a fast bowler can change history, it’s Cummins.
“Oh no doubt. That certainly was never a concern of mine. I’ve known Pat well enough over the past seven or eight years and he’s a very impressive man,” said Taylor.
“I’ve always thought he would do an excellent job because the first thing he will have is the change room, and all the people in and around him will have a great respect for him as the captain of the Australian cricket team. No doubt about that.
“My only question mark has been those tough days in the field in particular when you’re striving for breakthroughs and that’s when the nuances of captain can make a difference.”
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