Cummins makes leap from prodigy to captaincy

It started with a bang as Australia’s baby-faced iceman and appeared at risk of ending with a whimper because of recurring injuries. But Pat Cummins is now officially the face of Australian men’s cricket as Test captain, a nod to years of toil, tremendous leadership and terrific output with the ball.

Jokes and memes about Cummins becoming Prime Minister first started in 2018-19, when he stood up to India in Australia’s summer of need as Steve Smith and David Warner sought absolution from the sidelines.

‘‘How good is Pat Cummins,’’ Scott Morrison beamed at that summer’s meet and greet with players at Kirribilli.

Morrison’s rhetorical catchphrases can often be hard to put in context or analyse too deeply.

But in this case there is a plethora of quantitative and qualitative data that underline the on-field and off-field class of the once-in-a-generation-bowler mentored by Dennis Lillee.

Cummins is really good at taking wickets.

The right-armer celebrated his 100th Test scalp in his 21st Test; not since Charlie ’The Terror’ Turner terrorised England in the late 1890s has an Australian fast bowler achieved that milestone so rapidly.

The world’s top-ranked bowler is so often the one to swing momentum or set the tone for Australia, with his unplayable delivery that disturbed Joe Root’s off stump at Old Trafford in 2019 perhaps the most obvious example.

Cummins is really good at playing lots of cricket.

The paceman was sidelined for 64 Tests following an unforgettable debut at age 18, but has since played 33 of a possible 35.

Such a resilient run is remarkable given the 28-year-old’s history but also just the sheer physical demands of his craft; fatigued pacemen often finish a summer of cricket some five or six kilograms lighter, injuries are unavoidable.

Cummins is really good at staying composed.

The speedster showed as much when making headlines around the world against a star-studded South Africa in 2011, collecting a baggy green, the new ball, seven wickets and man-of-thematch honours in Johannesburg after hitting the winning runs in a dramatic contest.

The 28-year-old is unflappable on the field, proof you can show aggression without being a dickhead or suffering white-line fever.

Cummins is really good at caring. The superstar offered private support to disgraced teammates after the sandpaper scandal.

And he was among the first to send a strong public statement while telling AAP how it was ‘‘really hard seeing some of the things written about them by people who don’t know them’’.

A director on the board of the players’ union since 2019, he has been one of the strongest and most eloquent voices on a raft of cricket issues.

Cummins is really good at recognising a world exists outside the cricket bubble, a beast arguably sometimes more insular and gilded than that in Canberra.

He is an active part of The Cool Down movement urging Australia to get to net- zero before 2050 and take genuine climate action, and cites Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu as formative in his views about racism and Indigenous issues.

Michael Slater memorably accused Morrison of having ‘‘blood on his hands’’ regarding a coronavirus-related India travel ban as Australians involved in the IPL waited to return home.

Cummins, understandably keen to reunite with pregnant fiancee Becky, offered a more tactful take and donated $50,000 to a UNICEF COVID-19 crisis appeal.

Such perspective, instilled as a child at the foot of the Blue Mountains then shaped during a stint in Test wilderness that lasted almost six years, should hold Cummins in good stead as he seeks to repair an image tainted by the events that sparked Smith and Tim Paine’s tearful resignations.

The question Cricket Australia (CA), which has confirmed Cummins ascension to a powerful position that John Howard famously described as above Prime Minister in the national pecking order, wrestled with in recent days is whether its highest-paid player is really good at captaining.

There is admittedly limited evidence to draw on.

Cummins himself was unsure in recent years as to whether he could break the mould as the first fast bowler to captain the side since Ray Lindwall performed the duty for one Test in 1956.

But belief steadily built and Cricket NSW’s decision to hand him the reins of the state’s one-day side at the start of this year proved turning point and masterstroke.

Neither party thought Cummins’ crowning moment as Australia’s 47th men’s Test captain would come so soon.

But the hands-on experience and Blues’ one-day title proved it can work.

Marathon spells, long days in the field, an immense weight of public expectation, a deputy who admitted in March he would like to return to the captaincy, and tactical showdowns with Root, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson will ensure this is a different beast.

But it is clear why CA believe Cummins is the man for the job.

Cummins himself was unsure in recent years as to whether he could break the mould as the first fast bowler to captain the side since Ray Lindwall performed the duty for one Test in 1956.