Ashes 2021-22: Pat Cummins’ calm captaincy strikes a chord with Australian Test team

Debonair without a hint of pretentiousness. Like Richie Benaud, the last Aussie Test bowling captain, before him, Pat Cummins is not one for Churchillian addresses. Instead he leads by example.

Australia captain Pat Cummins. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

Australian cricket has a new battle cry – ‘calm and relentless’ – and no one embodies it more than the man who introduced it: Pat Cummins.

It’s fitting that Australia’s first bowling captain since Richie Benaud exudes a similar presence to the doyen of Test cricket when he walks into a room.

Cummins believes the best way to combat the stresses of international cricket is to not be swept away by them, and that’s exactly how Bill Lawry remembers Benaud.

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“As a leader he had no airs. He was a man of few words. There was no opening speech, there was no drama,” Lawry said.

The connections between Benaud and Cummins are many and strong.

Pat Cummins has made a strong start as captain of Australia’s Test team.

Both hail from Penrith and represent the essence of Sydney’s working class region by never looking down on anyone. Debonair without a hint of pretentiousness.

Like Benaud, Cummins is not one for Churchillian addresses. Instead he leads by example.

It’s why the mantra ‘calm and relentless’ that has guided Australia on their Ashes domination this summer has struck such a chord with players – because the captain lives those words in his actions.

“If you’re not inspired by Pat Cummins, well then, you probably should look for another occupation,” Ian Chappell told News Corp.

For more than a decade now – and not the fault of any one person – there has been a franticness about the Australian team. Eleventh-hour selection decisions, mixed messages, erratic and unbecoming on-field behaviour and a lack of clarity on what the team actually stands for. But Cummins has ‘calmed’ the waters.

Genuine and sensitive and a clear communicator, he might be the antithesis of macho captains of the past, but in his own way, Cummins is a strong and decisive personality who instils confidence in those around him.

Pat Cummins leads by his actions on the field. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Players know he’s a natural-born winner — ‘relentless’ — and feed off it.

As former Test player Brad Haddin said recently, Cummins in only two Test matches in charge has already given an “identity” to the Australian team, and he’s done it by being himself.

“I try and just be me as much as I can,” Cummins said. “I’m not trying to impress anyone more than what I normally do, so I’m not trying to do much differently.

“Obviously there’s got to be times when you have to try and address the group, more so than when you’re just a player.

“It’s been pretty relaxed to be honest. Everything has gone perfectly so far.

“I don’t think the biggest challenges have happened yet. I’m sure there will be some in the future. But at the moment, I’m just trying to be me.”

There was much consternation about whether a fast bowler could be or should be Test captain, when Ray Lindwall was the only other man in Australian cricket history to do it – for one match, 70 years ago.

Pat Cummins admits his biggest challenges as a captain are still to come. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

One of Australia’s greatest Test captains, Chappell, says that was a stupid argument, because leading is about character and game-intelligence.

“The people who were talking about how he mightn’t be able to do it because he’s a fast bowler, they don’t know much about captaincy, because it was pretty obvious to me that Pat Cummins would be a good captain,” Chappell said.

“The first thing you want is he’s a bowler, so he understands bowling.

“If you read Imran Khan’s book, who was a very good leader, he said a good cricket captain’s got to understand bowling.

“As it’s turned out, England have been pretty dismal this Ashes series and he’ll have some moments when captaincy is tough. But Pat Cummins is a tough person and a smart person and he’ll do the job well.

“That doesn’t mean every day of captaincy is a day of dreams. It’s not. A lot of it is bloody hard work. But Pat’s never shied away from hard work.”

Pat Cummins has had an immediate impact as captain. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The fact Mitchell Starc is in the midst of arguably his greatest ever Test summer, Nathan Lyon has returned to being ‘The GOAT’, all-rounder Cameron Green is bowling as quick as Starc and newcomers Scott Boland and Jhye Richardson have produced mercurial innings, is a fair sign that Cummins’ understanding of bowling has had an immediate and profound influence.

And all the while, Cummins’ own effectiveness as the spearhead has not diminished.

“It’s been really interesting to have the No.1 bowler’s mindset as captain,” Lyon said. “Pat is very approachable. It has helped me, and Mitch is getting the rewards he deserves.”

Born and raised at the foot of the Blue Mountains, Cummins will on Wednesday walk out in the captain’s blazer at his home ground for the first time.

Cummins’ never coveted the captaincy, but it’s an experience he will cherish.

“I think walking out to do the toss, that’s when it will really hit me,” he said. “It’s big. My family are all coming along, except for my sister. They go along the whole journey with you.

“For them it brings back memories of when I was eight, nine years old, running around in the backyard, or them dropping me off to my first game of cricket.

“It’s really special to share it with family and close friends.”

Originally published as Ashes 2021-22: Pat Cummins’ calm captaincy strikes a chord with Australian Test team