HE’S the man with a face a mother would love to see their daughter bring home, yet he plays like any one of cricket’s attack dogs.
That’s the dichotomy of Australia’s 47th Test captain Pat Cummins, a man who it’s very hard to find any flaws around.
The 28-year-old is the image of what we all wish to be: a big unit of six-foot-four (or 192cm), who looks more like a choirboy or an accountant at first glance.
You’d be certain those thoughts would be extinguished if you had faced him. He bowls fast and aggressive, but also with guile and skill.
And now after being put in the spotlight in the position often deemed more important, or at least more influential, than the Australian prime minister, he has starred on the opening day of the new Ashes series with 5/38.
Following the tumultuous endings both of the last captains have had, it’s refreshing to see someone who embodies all that we love in a sportsperson. Realistically we might have said the same about
Tim Paine but if it comes out that Cummins has major skeletons in the closet, I reckon the Apocalypse isn’t far away.
Usually when you’d be asked to come up with an image of your stereotypical fast bowler, words like aggression and viciousness come to mind.
Iconic footage of a moustached Dennis Lillee or the wild blond hair of Jeff Thomson steaming in probably sits in the forefront of your vision. Maybe Merv Hughes and his extended follow through to end up face to face with the batsmen, spewing some indecipherable sledge.
Maybe it’s Brett Lee with his classical bowling stride or ‘The Wild Thing’ Shaun Tait with his ridiculous slinging action, both boring holes into the opposition with their beady eyes after trying to knock their head off.
Most recently it’s Mitchell Johnson with that glorious handlebar facial hair and that epic snarl that rattled the Poms in the Ashes of the early 2010s.
Cummins doesn’t look what would basically be if the music of AC/DC was in human form. But he’s still the number one ranked bowler in the world at the time of writing, with 164 Test wickets in 34 games.
The only issue in the past has been his body.
After making his debut with a man of the match performance in South Africa as an 18-year-old in 2011, it wasn’t until March of 2017 that he returned to the Test line-up after multiple injuries for the tearaway quick.
While he was a slightly different bowler, and let’s face it who wouldn’t be, he picked up where he had left off.
No doubt there had been plenty of questions about having a fast bowler captain the country’s cricket team. The only man before him was the great Ray Lindwall in a one-off Test against India in 1956.
Even bowlers in general are a rarity for skipper, with Richie Benaud the last to do so in 1963.
Maybe it’s the sense that fast bowlers can’t concentrate on persistently pounding in to bowl while simultaneously setting fields and keeping control of the game.
If anyone can break the mould, you get the sense that Pat’s the man.
Australia’s sense of tall poppy syndrome for our athletes and celebrities is palpable. It must be something about our own personalities, trying to find something about people in the spotlight to bring them down a peg or two.
It really doesn’t seem like something we need to worry about now. Without question, the right man is in charge to take Australia forward.
Country cricket’s spirit embodied in classic summer wear
I’D just like you to pay attention to this image Daily photographer Ben Gross snapped on the weekend of a Red Cliffs Cricket Association (RCCA) game between Tempy and Millewa.
Sure, Tigers batsman Joel Monaghan is getting his bat behind the ball, but it’s the background character I’m more interested in.
Shorts and things, Hawaiian-style shirt and a yellow broad-brim lid – this sums up country cricket at its finest.
Sir, I’m not sure who you are, but I salute you.
