Ashes 2023: Pat Cummins banks on fresh legs to capture urn

The Australians are doing the opposite to what Justin Langer practised and preached to break Ashes drought on English soil.

Josh Hazelwood was rested from Australia’s loss in the third Test at Headingley Picture: Getty Images

Australia has another chance at Old Trafford to win this Ashes ­series in a match that will be as much a test of new methods as it is of old heads.

England are closing and will not go away with the brand of cricket they now play.

They are something of an old mates’ club that engages in the game with the sort of abandon that only comes with age and the bitter experience of winning just one Test in the 14 played in the pre-McCullum-Stokes period. They have little to fear.

With the 40-year-old James Anderson returning to the side, England’s bowling attack is the oldest in almost a century. Stuart Broad is 37, Moeen Ali 36, Chris Woakes 34 and Mark Wood 33.

Test world champions Australia are not a young team either, but they play an old-school brand of cricket and have two chances – here and at The Oval – to do what no visiting Ashes team has done in the UK since 2001.

The side is attacking the task at its own pace.

When England clawed its way back into the series in 2019 with the miracle win at Headingley, leave was cancelled and hard lessons learned.

Former coach Justin Langer forced reluctant players to review the loss on the day after the Test and insisted the squad remained focused by throwing everything into a tour game.

“Looking at the Australian squad there are many players who would benefit greatly from playing cricket this week,” he wrote in his London’s Daily Telegraph column last week.

“The modern philosophy of best when fresh might work for a select few, but it is not a concept I believe in; particularly for young players. Idle minds can be dangerous, and you don’t get better at anything, doing less of it. “

These Australians, however, have taken a breather. Pat Cummins, the only bowler to have played all three Ashes Tests and the WTC final, went to stay with his in-laws in nearby Yorkshire, the Warners went to Disneyland Paris, golf was played and European resorts frequented.

Both sides reject Langer’s philosophy. The Australians, with six Tests in seven weeks, are more focused on mental and physical recovery than keeping sharp.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith have returned hungry.

“I think both of those guys may have moved their hotel pillows into the nets over the last couple of days the amount of time they’re been spending in there,” Cummins joked.

“They’re both class players at the top of their game who don’t miss out too often. They’re both looking really good. Steve has scored two hundreds this tour. I think he scored a double hundred here last time, so I’m expecting big things from him as always.”

Labuschagne is averaging 24 and has a highest score of just 47, Smith scored a century at Lord’s but is averaging only 31.7 across the series.

David Warner, fresh from two single-figure dismissals at Headingley, has also been putting in extra work at the nets.

He and Usman Khawaja know these are their last days as a couple, with Warner set to retire in the summer – if he isn’t pushed beforehand.

“I think he’s been going really well,” Cummins said.

“I thought at Lord’s he was really impressive. Last week, like many of us, he probably didn’t contribute as much as he would have liked with the bat.

“He’s been out there over the last couple of days putting in a lot of work. But I think this tour he has shown a lot of good signs and hasn’t quite kicked on to make that big score. Some of those innings he’s played under really tough circumstances has made it easy for Smith to come in and score runs, or the like.”

Cummins says Australia’s planning has been around ensuring players are as fresh as they can be at the back half of the series.

“That’s part of the thinking (around) how we set up this tour around our prep, and even for a few of us missing IPLs or having shortened IPLs so that when we get to this stage we feel in as good a position as we can,” he said

“When you look back to a few of the recent tours we’ve had in Pakistan or India, we played some of our best cricket at the end of the tour. Hopefully this one’s the same.”