The Ashes 2023: Pat Cummins says series is like a T20 game

Never has an Ashes moved so fast, been so close or placed so much pressure on both side’s captains.

Man of the match Mark Wood hits a six during his telling innings in the third Ashes Test at Headingley Picture: Getty Images

Never has an Ashes moved so fast, been so close or placed so much pressure on both side’s captains.

The third Test passed through the looking glass to a country where, as the Red Queen explained to a frustrated Alice that “here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!“

Mark Wood’s performances at Headingley encapsulate the speed and fury that England have brought to the game.

Put aside for a moment his 150km/h-plus bowling and consider his game-changing cameo with the bat on the second day of the match.

In eight minutes, from six deliveries Wood inflated England’s scoreline and chances. Facing up to his first delivery, which was also the first delivery after lunch, England were 6-142 and well behind.

Starc dropped short, he stepped back and sliced him for six. The next ball he did the same for four, the third he pulled over deep backward square for another six.

Three deliveries 16 runs. Starc aimed at the stumps for the last two deliveries and conceded just two runs.

Back on strike against Cummins in the following over he hit a six, missed a bouncer and then skied a short ball into the hands of Mitch Marsh. His 24 runs came at a strike rate of 300.

Wood scored more in that brief appearance than the last six Australian batters, four of whom he dismissed. That first day collapse was another blink-and-the-advantage-is-lost moments.

Pat Cummins says that Test cricket is becoming like the T20 game, that it’s exhilarating and exhausting.

Andrew McDonald admits they are strapped in for the ride.

“It moves fast, the games move fast against England and there‘s no doubt you’ve probably got to be a bit more dynamic in terms of your communication and your planning,” he said.

“And you probably have more regular check points.

“But in terms of what we did leading in, the themes, the mantras, it‘s a lot of the same for us.

“We want to do things to our strengths but also respecting the opponent, and what we need to do and shift at certain times.

“I think we‘ve been pretty good at that, this is another close game that could have went either way as well.

“England are a tough team to beat here and we haven‘t won since 2001, so 2-1 up at this stage with two to go we like the position we’re in albeit we’ve got plenty of work to still do.”

The two full deliveries Wood faced conceded just two runs, but it was one of the six shorter balls which accounted for his wicket. McDonald says the conditions were different when the bowler ran through Australia’s tail and that the visitors found themselves under clear skies with a ball that wouldn’t swing or seam.

“The short ball’s been used more regularly in this series than I’ve ever seen before and with the short ball comes the risk of runs, and that sometimes happens – shorter boundaries, faster outfield and the short ball probably didn’t reap the same rewards with the lower order as it has,” the coach said

Coaches are licenced to get information to the fielding side as quickly as possible.

“Nothing‘s really changed in terms of our communication,” McDonald said.

“It‘s pretty regular on and off the ground, anything we see there Pat encourages us to communicate to him out there and vice-versa.

“So I think it‘s all hands on deck in terms of reading where the game might go and what tactics will be used.

“We set most of the plans in the morning and then go from there once we get new information.”

Cummins says he is enjoying the challenge of fast-moving cricket.

“I think it‘s similar to a T20 or one-dayer where you’ve got probably just that extra layer of trying to save boundaries as well as trying to take wickets,” he said.

“You might have a totally different field to one batter. Might be both right-handers, but you‘ve got a bouncer plan to one and the other guy you’re trying to be quite conventional too. So it’s enjoyable. It’s good fun, you’ve always got to be thinking on your feet. It doesn’t feel like the game kind of ever has lulls. There’s always something going on. It feels a bit more like a one-dayer.”

Not all the cricket, of course, is moving at that pace, nor is every cricketer capable of reaching warp speed in the manner of Wood or the brilliant young Harry Brook who became the fastest cricketer ever to 1000 runs (1058 deliveries) during the match.

England has tempered Travis Head by only bowling short. On slow wickets in the first two Tests it made for a painful spectacle, with more pace and bounce the contest spiced up in the third.

The calmest duck on the series’ pond is also the most productive.

Usman Khawaja was once looked on with suspicion for doing things at his own pace, but his old-fashioned methods helped Australia wear England down to win the first two matches. Paul Keating promised to do John Hewson slowly and Khawaja clearly favours that method of cooking.

Khawaja’s 356 runs have come at a strike rate of 38. The next six run scorers are moving at a strike rate of 65 or more.

McDonald and Cummins says Mitch Marsh is hard to leave out, the coach citing his match up against England.

The all-rounder scored at run a ball on his way to 118 in Australia’s first innings, shaking up the opposition attack that had removed the five batters who came before him to a total of 99 runs.