Pat Cummins named new Australian Test captain, Steve Smith vice-captain

[SujitPrakash]

Pat Cummins has been confirmed as the newest captain of the Australian Test cricket team.

 

The NSW quick was confirmed as skipper by Cricket Australia on Friday afternoon, and he will lead the team at the Gabba in the first Ashes Test in less than two weeks.

 

Steve Smith will return to a leadership role, being named the new vice-captain.

 

Cummins, 28, becomes the 47th man to lead the Australian Test side, taking over from Tim Paine, who resigned last week. He'll become the first pace bowler to lead Australia since Ray Lindwall in 1956.

 

He has been one of the key members of Australia's bowling attack over the past few years, racking up 34 Test appearances since a debut as a teenager in 2011.

 

After an injury-plagued few years, he returned to the national side nearly five and a half years later, and has been a mainstay ever since.

 

"I am honoured to accept this role ahead of what will be a massive Ashes summer," Cummins said in a statement.

 

"I hope I can provide the same leadership Tim [Paine] has given the group in the past few years.

 

"With Steve and I as captains, a number of very senior players in this squad and some great young talent coming through we are a strong and tightly knit group.

 

"This is an unexpected privilege which I am very grateful for and am very much looking forward to."

 

The news comes after Tim Paine announced earlier today that he would not be remaining in the team in any capacity, despite originally saying he would remain in the team as a wicketkeeper, despite no long being captain.

 

Pat Cummins has been named the new captain of the men's Test cricket team. (Getty)

 

Smith makes his return to a leadership role after being stripped of the captaincy following the 2018 sandpaper scandal.

 

"I am pleased to return to the leadership of the team and look forward to helping and assisting Pat in any way I can. Pat and I have played together for a long time, so we know our respective styles well," Smith said.

 

"We are also great friends, as is the whole group. As a team, we want to play good, positive cricket and also really enjoy each other's company.

 

They are exciting times ahead as we focus on the Ashes and beyond."

 

Nathan Lyon gave a ringing endorsement of his state teammate becoming the new captain when he was asked on Thursday.

 

"Playing under Pat at NSW cricket in a one-day set up last year, I think he did a really good job," he said.

 

"I know it's going to be a different kettle of fish, but he's got a lot of senior players around him to support him if he gets the nod."

 

Cummins himself was asked about leadership aspirations last week, saying there would be no issues about juggling the responsibility of spearheading the bowling attack as well as making tactical decisions.

 

"If I was in the role and I found it tough, at times, there's ten other guys I'd lean on out in the middle," he said.

 

"You've got people like Smithy and Davey Warner who are incredibly experienced, all the bowlers are experienced and look after themselves pretty well so I'd have no issues handballing it over to other people to help out."

 

https://wwos.nine.com.au/cricket/the-ashes-2021-pat-cummins-named-new-australian-captain/72f23bcb-32ff-4d1b-8f49-da1a518adc8b

[Jattputt]

This looks like a clever way of appointing Snith as future captain. Cricket Australia does it what it wants, when it wants

[nevada]

Labu would have been a better choice for VC. Smith as VC is a back door way of making him captain again. Also, Cummins himself doesn't pass the ethics sniff test as he would have to be blind to not notice the tampered ball.

[New guy]

4 hours ago, Jattputt said:

This looks like a clever way of appointing Snith as future captain. Cricket Australia does it what it wants, when it wants

No other team would even have given smith bigger pubishment. If it was kohli BCCI would brush if under the carpet 

[asd1206]

Maybe a good decision

[Adamant]

1 hour ago, New guy said:

No other team would even have given smith bigger pubishment. If it was kohli BCCI would brush if under the carpet 

Agree completely. 

When Sachin Tendulkar tampered with the ball BCCI buried that under  the ground despite actual video reports of the same lol

[rkt.india]

24 minutes ago, Adamant said:

Agree completely. 

When Sachin Tendulkar tampered with the ball BCCI buried that under  the ground despite actual video reports of the same lol

But the difference is Tendulkar wasn't tampering the ball.

[Adamant]

1 minute ago, rkt.india said:

But the difference is Tendulkar wasn't tampering the ball.

That's what you like to believe. 

One glance at that video was good enough to reveal what he was doing. 

Plenty of foreign cricketers spoke out against him at that time,. 

[New guy]

1 hour ago, Adamant said:

Agree completely. 

When Sachin Tendulkar tampered with the ball BCCI buried that under  the ground despite actual video reports of the same lol

 Nothing much BCCI could do when ICC themselves cleared sachin. Here smith was punished by ICC

 

P.S. the video evidence clearly shows sachin removing a huge tuft of grass stuck. Nice try though

[New guy]

37 minutes ago, Adamant said:

That's what you like to believe. 

One glance at that video was good enough to reveal what he was doing. 

Plenty of foreign cricketers spoke out against him at that time,. 

You are blatantly lying now. The video evidence shoes a huge piece of grass stuck which he removed with nail. Nothing more

 

 

[Adamant]

1 hour ago, New guy said:

You are blatantly lying now. The video evidence shoes a huge piece of grass stuck which he removed with nail. Nothing more

 

 

No it doesn't. Post the video here please. 

 

Also please try this with someone else, you don't tread your fingers around the seam to remove a piece of grass lol

Edited November 26, 2021 by Adamant

[Adamant]

1 hour ago, New guy said:

You are blatantly lying now. The video evidence shoes a huge piece of grass stuck which he removed with nail. Nothing more

 

 

Why were critics saying that he tried to tamper with the ball? 

 

[afan]

So Smith is gonna call the shots aint it?

 

That was the only way forward, as the timing wasnt right for them to get in Labu

 

This will be interesting, the Barmy Army may just have to recall their old songs.

 

The Ashes has just got bigger than one would imagine

[diga]

On 11/26/2021 at 3:01 PM, Adamant said:

Agree completely. 

When Sachin Tendulkar tampered with the ball BCCI buried that under  the ground despite actual video reports of the same lol

Stop being so touchy.. new guy just took the example of the current Indian captain. (Mind you , Rohit sharma is still new).

 

You can accuse Sachin of many things but not this one.. he may have done it inadvertently

On 11/26/2021 at 1:45 PM, New guy said:

No other team would even have given smith bigger pubishment. If it was kohli BCCI would brush if under the carpet 

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by diga

[First class]

Smith committed a crime, got punished, time to move on , hope had learnt his lesson , nothing wrong with him being the VC . 

[Texan]

I think this is a good decision. Too often when we think of captaincy, we are heavily inclined into picking a batsman or a keeper as the captain. Fast bowlers often get overlooked as they are unfairly perceived to be muscle machines that are not adept at strategic thinking. Cummins is a smart cricketer and I think he should be able to lead the team successfully.

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Texan
typo

[Nikola]

I think since his return in 2017 to test cricket he has never been rested. They can use someone like green more for bowling to share workload in 4/5 match series.

[rkt.india]

13 hours ago, Texan said:

I think this is a good decision. Too often when we think of captaincy, we are heavily inclined into picking a batsman or a keeper as the captain. Fast bowlers often get overlooked as they are unfairly perceived to be muscle machines that are not adept at strategic thinking. Cummins is a smart cricketer and I think he should be able to lead the team successfully.

 

Fast bowlers don't become captain often because of their injury issues 

[helperononline]

Poor choice because Cummins remained injured most of the time and Smith will be captaining the side that way.

I feel cummins might skip IPL to remain Fit.

[Texan]

9 hours ago, rkt.india said:

Fast bowlers don't become captain often because of their injury issues 

That part does contribute, but Cummins has largely been injury free after his injury early in his career that led to a long recovery period for him.