Why white ball internationals are irrelevant as Cummins eyes India Tests
By Malcolm Conn
Captain Pat Cummins will prioritise this summer’s Test series against India by skipping Australia’s September short form tour of the UK, having spent much of the past four months playing in overseas Twenty20 leagues.
The old club versus country argument is now redundant when it comes to senior players, with Test cricket, World Cups and big-money IPL stints the clear priorities.
While Cummins will spend the next month in the gym preparing for the five-Test series against India, Australia’s women’s captain Alyssa Healy will be preparing for the Twenty20 World Cup – though where the tournament will be held remains to be seen.
The International Cricket Council is expected to take the decision to move the tournament away from strife-torn Bangladesh at a meeting on Tuesday night.
Anti-government protests flared in Dhaka during July, with hundreds killed and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina forced to flee the country after a 15-year rule.
“I’d find it really hard to see a cricket event going on over there at the moment, and taking resources away from a country that is really struggling,” Healy said on Monday.
Pat Cummins and Alyssa Healy promoting Play Cricket Week with young children.Credit: Nick Moir
“They’re needing everyone that they can possibly get helping people that are dying. I’d find it hard to fathom playing there at the moment. I’d feel, as a human being, it might be the wrong thing to do. But I’ll leave that for the ICC to work out.”
Having played non-stop for most of the last 11 months, including a stint in America’s new Major League Cricket competition, Cummins is going nowhere, with a break scheduled before Australia’s bid to register a first Test series victory over India in a decade.
Australia are due to leave later this month for a tour of Scotland and England, taking in six T20 and five one-day matches.
“This is an interesting year in that this gap leading into the summer was always pre-planned,” Cummins said as he and Healy launched Play Cricket Week in Sydney on Monday, encouraging children to take up the sport.
Pat Cummins leading Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.Credit: AP
“The MLC popped up late. Talking through the schedules, it didn’t really change any of the prep leading into the summer. It was a nice little gap, which isn’t always going to be the case in other seasons where international cricket clashes, and that takes priority.
“There aren’t many breaks in the calendar unless you manufacture one. The medical staff and coaches and everyone thought this is a good opportunity to have a month or so off bowling for my body, and then build up and hopefully be in as good a position as possible for the five Tests.”
Cummins was wearing Sydney Thunder colours for Monday’s promotion, but played the last of his 22 Big Bash games more than five years ago. He doubts that will change this season.
“I think it’s going to be tough,” Cummins said about the likelihood of his turning out for the Thunder. “We’ve got five Tests then go straight to Sri Lanka basically a week or so after the last Test.”
Cummins’ marathon playing stint began last September with a one-day series in India leading into the one-day World Cup, which finished on November 19.
He was in Perth three weeks later preparing for a five-Test home summer followed by two Tests in New Zealand, 16 matches in the IPL, six in T20 World Cup and six in the MLC.
Cummins went for a record $3.67 million to Sunrisers Hyderabad is last December’s IPL auction, captaining them to the final. The record was smashed a couple of hours later when his long-time NSW and Australian teammate Mitchell Starc went to Kolkata Knight Riders for $4.43 million, The Knight Riders beat the Sunrisers in the final on May 26.
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