Cricket World Cup, Australia v South Africa semi-final: Is Pat Cummins captaincy underrated?

Pat Cummins has been a human lightning rod throughout his Australian captaincy but if he caps this year with a World Cup title, an ignored quality must finally be recognised.

Much has been said about Pat Cummins since he became Australian captain just under two years ago in the wake of the Tim Paine sexting scandal.

Cummins has been variously been lauded for his excellence with the ball, scrutinised for his role in Justin Langer’s departure, paraded for his leadership during the first half of the Ashes series, and criticised for his tactics at stages during the back half of that engrossing joust.

He has polarised with his willingness to engage in climate activism, has impressed at times both with his flamboyance and obstinance with the bat when needed, had his position in the one-day side called into question and generally served as human lightning rod across a handful of seasonal culture wars.

Even if his bowling has been patchier than usual at times this year, his sheer quality as a player – combined with some challenges curtailing Bazball – has led to him being framed more as a captain who leads by example than one who swings matches with shrewd moves.

Pat Cummins has been – at times – a divisive figure as captain, despite his excellent results. Picture: AFP

Perhaps this is the lot of the superstar. Mark Taylor and Aaron Finch are better remembered as tacticians, in part because their batting was flakier than that of Ricky Ponting or Steve Waugh.

And as a rare fast bowling captain in particular, so much of the attention on Cummins the leader has been around the need to manage him, especially through an exhausting 2023 which featured the grand slam of an Indian Test tour, World Test Championship Final, Ashes series and 50-over World Cup.

On the workload front Cummins has done a herculean job. Save for missing a couple of Tests in India when he headed home to be with his dying mother Maria, Cummins has endured a trying year, playing every other match across those four big ticket items and saving his rest for lead-up games in South Africa when he was recuperating from a wrist injury sustained in England.

It has been an enormous 12 months for Cummins and the Australian team, which includes the retention of the Ashes. Picture: Getty

Again, very little mention of Cummins the tactician.

It was instructive then when Sean Abbott, probably the most unobtrusive member of Australia’s World Cup squad, was asked after the side’s dead rubber win against Bangladesh if part of his role as backup paceman was to keep an eye on the big three quicks and provide any advice should he notice a chink in the armour of an opposition batter.

Instinctively, Abbott looked not to how he was helping Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cummins, but rather how Cummins’ undersold bowling brain had helped Abbott on Saturday in Pune, a day on which he played what will almost certainly be his only game of the tournament.

“Cummo’s incredibly intelligent, reads the game very well. And there were many times today where I went to him with certain things and he just read the batter perfectly the next ball,” Abbott said.

Sean Abbott spoke glowingly about the captaincy qualities of Cummins. Picture: Getty

“I’ve obviously been running drinks quite a lot. I know all three of them pretty well. And they’ll probably find me a little bit annoying at times. But we obviously sit in the bowling meetings together and Cummo will ask me a question here or there. It’s obviously quite hard for him to remember everything.

“Having a bowling captain who reads the game so well. I’ve played under many good captains, Finchy was great. Moises (Henriques) back home is great, but having a frontline bowling all-rounder who reads the game so well, it’s like gold dust at the top of your run.”

Cummins is edging closer to what could be a legacy-defining moment with Australia. Picture: AFP

Pressed further on whether Cummins had not received the credit he deserved when it came to strategy, Abbott pointed to moments against the Tigers where the skipper’s nous had come in handy.

“I haven’t kept a close eye on fields and bowling changes and that sort of stuff. But in terms of when I’m at the top of my mark like today, I could pick out a half a dozen occasions where he just read the batter perfectly.

“I say ‘mate I’m vibing the batter may be ticking a little bit, what do you think?’ He’s like, ‘nup Plan A or whatever, let’s just go with that,’ and he just read it perfectly. And I was like, ‘well done mate, this is why you’re pretty good, along with being pretty good with his skills.”

The job is not done. Just as they were at The Oval in the last week of July, legacies will be shaped by what happens on Thursday in Kolkata, and if all goes well for the Aussies, Sunday in Ahmedabad.

If Australia can manage to parlay a WTC title, Ashes retention and World Cup crown in the same calendar year, the appointment of Cummins as skipper across two formats will have been resoundingly vindicated.

And perhaps then the plaudits will begin to flow for Cummins the captain, rather than just the cricketer.