Captain Cummins is cool head amid burning issues

Pat Cummins’s nuanced and sensible approach to controversial sports sponsorships has been lost in an avalanche of criticism.

Pat Cummins, right, in an ad for Alinta Energy. The Australian captain has exercised his contractual right to not particpate in commercials for the company this season.

Pat Cummins’s nuanced and sensible approach to controversial sports sponsorships has been lost in an avalanche of criticism from commentators engorged with rage that anyone would dare question the fossil-fuel industry.

A quiet and practical climate-change advocate, Cummins will not appear in advertising for the Chinese-owned Alinta brand this summer, but will wear its logo on his shirt in all three formats.

Cummins has, awkwardly, been in Alinta’s advertising for the past three years, despite an unspoken understanding that players need not align themselves with brands they object to and another that allows them to opt out after two years.

This year he felt it was time for a change. Alinta has a declining environmental record, while the Australian captain is a driving force behind Cricket for Climate, which has begun a program to install solar power at 4000 local clubs. Cummins adamantly denied reports he was responsible for the sponsorship deal coming to its end after five years.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Nick (Hockley), the CEO, and I have a really good relationship. We talk about lots of things. But no, I’ve been a big supporter of all our partners over the last few years.

“I think it’s probably a stretch exactly what happened.”

The Australian captain has remained a man of positive action and few words on the issue, but believes the science and has expressed his concern at the impacts the burning of fossil fuel has on the environment.

Critics point to the emissions from flights and fuels used by Cummins in his profession, claiming hypocrisy when, as with the majority of sensible people, he is advocating sensible reductions – not some utopia where humanity can live without an imprint on the planet.

For some reason, these people condemn any attempt to improve things, apparently determined you must be perfect or perfectly quiet.

Cricket is a high-emissions sport and one that is already suffering the impact of climate change. CA has slowly shifted to more ethical partnerships in recent years and works to exclude in program gambling advertisements from its broadcasts, while also excluding gaming companies from association with the family-friendly Big Bash League.

CA includes a “sustainable future” as one of its five “strategic pillars” in its recently released five-year plan. The kneejerk outrage parallels similar arguments when cricket was forced to drop its long association with tobacco companies.

Unlike Diamonds netballers, who refused to wear Hancock Prospecting after one player objected, the Australian cricket team has conflicting opinions on the topic that are respected by Cummins’s personal opinions.

It echoes Usman Khawaja choosing not to be aligned with alcohol or pork products because of his religion.

“I think it’s always been a balance,” Cummins said. “You’ve seen certain players make decisions based on religions or maybe certain foods they eat; they won’t partner specific partners. But we really thank all our partners for everything they do for Cricket Australia and for grassroots supporting the game, and we know our responsibilities. We try and do our best.”

Cummins, naturally, agrees cricket needed to think carefully about which companies it aligned with. “And not just us players – every organisation has a responsibility to do what’s right for the sport, but also what they think is the right thing for the organisation and a whole society when it moves forward,” he said.

“I think it’s a balance when you make decisions about who you are going to welcome into the cricket family.”

The issue comes as players are confronted with the decision by the ICC to align itself with the murderous Saudi Arabian government.

The peak international body announced on the weekend that Aramco, which is 98.5 per cent owned by the regime behind the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and one widely condemned for its human rights abuses.

Murder aside, the state-owned Aramco is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter.

Cummins points out the players had no role in signing the company on as naming-rights sponsor for its player of the match awards.

“It’s obviously far away from the decisions us players make,” he said. “It’s an ICC decision.

“The players are fairly arm’s-reach away from their decision-making. It’s fine.”