Cummins makes

AUSTRALIA will persist with a splitcaptaincy model in red and whiteball cricket, with new test skipper Pat Cummins not interested in the one-day role. Cummins’ appointment as the country’s 47th men’s test captain after Tim Paine stepped down over a sexting scandal, ushered in a new era of leadership in Australian cricket.

But it also left questions over future leaders, particularly after Cummins revealed he did not see himself remaining captain for the rest of his career.

As things stand, Aaron Finch wants to stay on in Australia’s white-ball teams until at least the one-day World Cup in India in 2023.

He has also earned the right to fight on as leader after guiding the team to a maiden Twenty20 World Cup final win over New Zealand in the UAE this month. But at age 35, there is no doubt Finch will retire from cricket before Cummins.

Australia have traditionally adopted a same-captain approach in test and one-day formats, provided the test captain also features in the one-day team.

But Cummins has no desire to eventually walk into the one-day role.

‘‘My gut feeling and preference at the moment is to have separate captains.

‘‘I think it’s too much to ask certainly of me. I’d love to just concentrate on test cricket. ‘‘Aaron’s doing a fantastic job.’’ His view comes amid a longheld debate about whether Australia should run separate white-ball or Twenty20 coaching staff, rather than one person overseeing all formats.

The paceman’s stance is also in line with the fact he does not want to be rested from test cricket, particularly now that he is captain.

While he has not missed a test since October 2018, Cummins has played in only 49 of Australia’s 89 white-ball matches in that time.

So where Australia go beyond Finch if Cummins doesn’t want to captain is questionable.

Cummins was Finch’s deputy