Evening Jon, Simon and Dean. While we wait for the rain to clear, knowing that it won’t, may I raise a point of possible discussion ? Just one of a number (or herd) of elephants in the room I think we are all conscious of: that of Cummins’s captaincy ? He’s done well in Aus and in India but has been, or seen, or perceived to be totally rattled by England’s tactics in England. His decisions, or indecisions, advice from on field and perhaps from the team rooms seem to leave him tactically perplexed. Surprisingly I’ve not read of any real discussion of this rather obvious issue. Maybe it’s just me and perhaps I should just go to bed. Sorry – but I’m more than a bit frustrated.
– Old timer
G’day Old Timer. There has been a lot of talk about the tactics of Pat Cummins around the traps.
Whether it’s his defensive fields or his bowling approach, he’s copped a fair bit of criticism. As is often the case with this sort of thing, some of it’s been justified, some of it’s been out of line, some of it’s been former Victorian captain Darren Berry floating Mitch Marsh as a replacement option…
But rest assured, if you want to find people talking about it, you can.
As far as I’m concerned, his captaincy hasn’t blown me away, but he’s been in some tough positions with his batters struggling to put totals on the board and seemingly constantly playing from behind with the ball. Also, we’ve seen Steve Smith take over a lot of the field placings while Cummins is bowling or dealing with other stuff and I don’t think the skipper is so domineering that a bowler couldn’t go to him and suggest another plan.
England’s uber-aggressive approach is also hard to combat, as a lot of teams have found in the past year or so.
Regardless of the outcome of this series, the armband will definitely be a wider conversation heading into summer, but there aren’t too many Aussie players who would have a big tick next to their names for their performances thus far, and the whole set-up will be under examination if they lose this series.