We should have known.
Pat Cummins spelled out his manifesto for us in the aftermath of Justin Langer’s departure as coach.
“A big theme for this summer has been more calm, more composed,” the Australian skipper said in February 2022.
“That’s been really clear in the feedback from players, support staff and CA and the direction we wanted to take the team.”
And so here we are in 2024, a 2-1 lead and on the cusp of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy just weeks after Australian cricket was supposedly in a hell-hole.
“It’s a sample size of one,” Cummins said to cynical ears after Perth.
“The most important thing is there’s four Test matches to come.”
Over the last few decades disaster mode has cropped up periodically.
If Australia were not winning every game, all the time, a doom spiral would engulf players, administrators, media and fans.
Call it ‘Aussie exceptionalism’, but the weight of playing perfect cricket has suffocated players.
It’s one of the reasons why the last decade and a bit has seen triumphant whitewashes mixed with the most spectacular fallouts; see the Hobart horrorshow, homework-gate in Mohali and sandpaper-gate in Cape Town.
This is where Cummins-brand leadership works, on top of his all-time performances with the ball and rescue jobs with the bat.
Tactically, there are times when the armchair critic is right that Pat’s got it wrong (see any time Marnus Labuschagne takes the ball to bowl medium pacers), but his philosophy seems that it’s impossible to play faultless cricket, so don’t sweat every mistake or loss.
Keep calm and build confidence, not anxiety.
Pat Cummins celebrates with teammates the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
This is the spirit of what he foreshadowed post-Langer. Don’t let the negative become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It worked in the 2023 ODI World Cup when a slow start, and outsiders baying for blood, were overcome for triumph.
A carbon copy is now looking likely this summer; the depths of Perth to the rousing festival of Melbourne where Cummins picked up player of the match honours.
Even if the Indians somehow climbsoff the canvas in Sydney, history says Cummins won’t fret.
Jasprit Bumrah may be the greatest of his generation, the Indian batting may finally click in unison in the first innings. That’s the law of averages, not an inherent technical or mental weakness from his team.
For all the criticism, the most laughable is the ‘woke Pat’ charge.
The entirely reasonable and non-preachy decline of a personal sponsorship deal when he’d like to see more green energy is a predictable weapon for culture war enthusiasts.
Pat Cummins. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
(And to the usual suspects – yes he flies on a plane to play cricket as there’s no choice in that matter, but there is a choice in who your personal sponsors are.)
The ‘woke’ label implies someone who has lost grip of reality for some unattainable kumbuya utopia.
A little like the belief that it’s the divine right of Australia (population 26 million vs India 1.3 billion, Pakistan 250 million, Bangladesh 173 million, South Africa 64 million, England 56 million) to handsomely win every single cricket match it plays.
In understanding that cricket perfection is fantasy, Cummins might be the most pragmatic leader we’ve had in generations.
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