Cummins likely to miss Sri Lanka tour but no end in sight for captaincy

AAP

06-Jan-2025 • 57 mins ago

There’s no end in sight for Pat Cummins‘ captaincy as he prepares to put family first and skip his first full tour since taking over from Tim Paine four years ago.

Sunday’s six-wicket win over India at the SCG on Sunday sealed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and ensured Australia own every bilateral trophy for which they compete, capping a superb run for the team under Cummins.

With ODI and T20 World Cups also captured in that time, Cummins was asked after the SCG win if he felt he “had completed cricket”.

Cummins will likely miss Australia’s next tour, admitting on Sunday he “likely might struggle” to play in Sri Lanka as he awaits the birth of his second child.

Steven Smith is expected to return to the captaincy in his place, having already filled in four times previously in the past four years. But in the long run, Cummins is still driven and in no way feels as if his job as captain has been finished.

“First of all, I absolutely love what I do. That’s the biggest driver in wanting to play Test cricket and work with this team and support staff,” Cummins said. “I absolutely love everything about it; it’s that much fun. If I can keep doing it for a while, even better.”

The transition of the Test team has been a key talking point for the past year, with Sam Konstas the only player in the fifth Test side under 30. But Cummins still has several years left in him with a mega 2027 on the horizon, which includes away Test tours of India and England, despite him initially hinting at a shorter tenure when he took over in 2021.

“You always talk about [succession]. We have two vice-captains in the team. We have had three debutants in this series,” Cummins said. “You’re always balancing between the here and now, but have a bit of an eye towards the future.

“They are conversations we always have, but I don’t think there is any point in doing things for the sake of it. Those can play out over the next few years.”

Cummins’ leadership in the 3-1 Border-Gavaskar trophy triumph was immense. The Australian team under his watch has often become a target for criticism, of which there was plenty after they were thrashed by 295 runs in the series opener.

Claims of fractures in the team were known to have frustrated players, after press-conference comments from Josh Hazlewood were picked apart by sections of the media. The team’s preparation also came under the microscope, after Cummins and other players skipped white-ball matches in the lead up to the Tests.

But Cummins pulled the right rein at almost every opportunity after Perth, with his captaincy at its peak in the final-hour win at the MCG last week.

“When you start a series behind, a lot of things get questioned, fairly and unfairly,” Cummins said. “But I think it shows a strength of the group to stay strong. Know we weren’t at our best but we can be better.”