The proof Cummins has become one of Australian cricket’s most powerful ever captains
The Pat Cummins call will be left to the man himself. But he’s quietly become one of the modern era’s most powerful Australian cricket leaders.
This is a Test match between one team quietly adapting to life on the run and another who stubbornly refuses to do so.
At first glance, the fact that Australia were uncertain of who their captain would be the day before an Ashes Test might be seen as a dithering exercise but it wasn’t.
The Australian team is not flawless but they do roll with the flow and rhythms of the world around them.
Whether Pat Cummins or Steve Smith captained the side would not rock the apple cart.
A fire alarm triggered outside a kitchen went off at the Gabba on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of the venue.
It wasn’t the only smoke floating around the Gabba on a day when speculation was rife over the composition of the Australian playing XI.
The fact that the Cummins call will be left to the man himself confirms that he has become one of the most powerful Australian cricket captains of the modern era, a fact hidden by his laid-back demeanour.
Cummins will get what Cummins wants. Many captains of the past would not have had that luxury.
The challenge for England in this Test will be to adapt and roll with the challenges as well.
We know England have a fourth gear. Do they have a second and third as well?
The thing about day-night Tests is they have three distinct change of conditions – daylight, dusk and darkness.
When you are a team that likes purring along in fourth gear that’s a worry.
Marnus Labuschagne has built up an imposing pink ball record by being a chameleon of the crease, expansive under the baking sun, cautious at night fall and a fighter after dark.
He should be the poster boy for England but will they have the ego to at times put their big weapons in the closet?
Bazball is at the crossroads.
The one area of concern which is so often underplayed in the Bazball narrative is how the batsmen’s failings rob the bowlers of rest.
England’s bowling effort in the first innings in Perth was as good as an opponent has bowled on Australian shores since the mighty West Indies teams of the 1980s.
They averaged 140kph but their pace and venom disintegrated in the second innings because they did not get adequate rest.
The worrying stat for England is that since 2021 no venue in the world has bounced as high as the Gabba with good length balls rising about 91cms. If England think they can drive those balls they better have their eye in.
Travis Head could do anything today because the Gabba is his rocks and diamonds venue.
He had three back to back first ball ducks here yet also two knocks of more than 150.
England have gone back to school on him – today we will see whether he is one step ahead of their plans.
Originally published as The proof Cummins has become one of Australian cricket’s most powerful ever captains
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