Pat Cummins leaves ‘go woke, go broke’ critics with egg on their faces

A piece of Pat Cummins heroics has left his ‘go woke, go broke’ critics embarrassed with one particular comment getting torn to shreds.

Pat Cummins has left his ‘go woke, go broke’ critics with egg on their faces after saving Australia with a fighting late-innings knock of 64 off 73 balls on Australia Day.

It was the 30-year-old’s highest ever score for Australia and it came after days of criticism from some section of society over his public call on Tuesday for the nation to find a “more appropriate date to celebrate” Australia Day.

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With the assistance of Usman Khawaja (75) and Alex Carey (65), Cummins’ career-best performance with the bat allowed Australia to close out their first innings against the West Indies at 9/289 declared - a respectable score after a batting collapse left the hosts on 4/24 earlier in the day.

In reply the West Indies finished the day at 1-13, leading by 35 runs.

“He’s an amazing cricketer, isn’t he?” Carey said about Cummins.

“That’s probably the best I’ve seen him bat.”

Aussie fans were also taking notice of Cummins’ heroics on social media, with many pointing out how a post earlier innings on X, formerly Twitter, by former MP Craig Kelly had aged liked milk.

Pat Cummins was on fire on Day 2 at the Gabba. (Photo by Pat Hoelscher / AFP)

Writing amid Australia’s early batting collapse, the former United Australia Party leader wrote: “GO WOKE, GO BROKE.

“It’s almost as though it brings on instant Karma. Australian cricketers Pat Cummins and Steve Smith both speak out against Australia Day.

“And in the current test against the lowly rated West Indies, Cummings records the disappointing figures of 1-76 and Steve Smith, opening the batting is dismissed in the first over for just 6.”

The response after Cummins’ starring role on Day 2 at the Gabba was swift, with many cricket fans and experts applauding the Aussie skipper while throwing shade at critics of his off-field stances on issues such as climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“According to CricViz, Pat Cummins has now recorded the highest score ever by a woke Test captain on his country’s national day in which said captain wanted the day changed, angering conservatives,” CODE Sports reporter Daniel Cherny wrote on X.

“Go woke, go for broke. Pat Cummins saving Australia’s blushes on Australia Day is quite awkward for a few people,” sports reporter Mark Gottlieb wrote.

“Definition of mixed emotions would have to be the go woke, go broke brigade watching Pat Cummins lift Australia out of trouble on Australia Day with a fighting half-century,” wrote sports reporter Andrew Wu.

Pat Cummins lifts the ICC World Test Championship mace. Picture: Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images

Many were also quick to point out that Cummins’ knock was just the continuation of a golden run for the critic captain, who had just days earlier been recognised with the ICC’s Cricketer of the Year award for 2023.

Australia won the Test World Championship, ODI World Cup and retained the Ashes in 2023 under Cummins’ stewardship.

Named captain of the ICC’s Test Team of the Year as well, Cummins could also be in line to win his first Allan Border Medal when it’s announced next week having played pivotal roles as skipper as well as with the ball, and at times the bat, throughout his team’s successes.

Cummins beat out fellow Aussie Travis Head, as well as Indian duo Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli, to win the award.

He’s the fifth Australian to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy following Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014), Michael Clarke (2013) and Steve Smith (2015).

Cummins grabbed 59 wickets across 11 Tests and 13 ODIs in 2023, including a memorable match haul of 10-47 in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.

His matchwinning 55-run partnership with Nathan Lyon also guided Australia to an unlikely opening Ashes Test win at Edgbaston, a highlight in a stunning year for Cummins.

Cummins with the World Cup trophy. Picture: Saeed Khan / AFP

“It’s a huge honour. It has been a big year, lots of wonderful team success,” Cummins said.

“To get this individual honour is huge and I am pretty amazed. In terms of individual accolades, it is right up there.

“All the other nominees obviously had fantastic years as well. Travis, as a teammate, I saw him win the World Test Championship final and the World Cup final, and he was the player of the match in both matches. He had an amazing year.

“Jadeja and Kohli are both super consistent. They find a way to drag their team out of trouble and win it for them, so to win alongside those guys is really special.”

All up 16 Australians were recognised in the ICC awards, across the men’s and women’s teams, including Usman Khawaja as Test Payer of the Year.

Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley declared the awards were a measure of the team’s success.

“To have this number of players included across men’s and women’s formats shows how fortunate we are to have so many of the world’s best players representing Australia,” he said.

“I’d also like to thank our high-performance staff who do a fantastic job to create the environment for our world-class players to perform at their best.”

Australian ICC Award winners

Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Pat Cummins

ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year: Usman Khawaja

ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Phoebe Litchfield

ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year: Pat Cummins (C), Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey (WK), Mitchell Starc

ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year: Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (WK), Ash Gardner, Annabel Sutherland

ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year: Travis Head, Adam Zampa

ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year: Beth Mooney (WK), Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Megan Schutt

- with NCA Newswire