“Cool. No worries.”
The words well attest to the utmost calmness that Patrick Cummins brings with the red ball to the Australian attack. They also formed the 2023 World Test Championship-winning captain’s genial response after England great Jimmy Anderson snubbed him for South Africa’s for the better bowler between the two on the eve of a second successive WTC final.
Amidst precipitous batting from both parties at Lord’s stood Cummins, orchestrating Thursday’s devastation. His innings-closing dismissal of Rabada handed Australia a decisive 74-run first-innings lead, his 300th Test scalp and a special six-wicket haul (6/28), bowling first-change in a legendarily stacked bowling unit.
In only eight years after a five-and-a-half-year absence due to injuries, Cummins has rewritten the record books, as bowler and leader, and established new benchmarks for the concept of the most complete Test fast bowlers of the time. Of course, there are contenders to the title (read or Rabada), but Cummins’ leadership nous and sustained bowling presence throughout an innings offer him an edge, with his senses attuned to the most heightened challenges.
If one were to nitpick shortcomings, Cummins has left negligible space to explore during his rapid ascent since 2017. Perhaps the middling average in Asia leaves scope for improvement. But for his five-star redemption, the general feeling would be of retrospection. Where could Cummins have been by now, if not for his 1946-day absence between two Test appearances for Australia?
By being only the fifth-quickest ever to reach 300 Test wickets – the fastest Australian while at it – Cummins has somewhat answered what the cricket world potentially missed between 2012-16. His 45.75 bowling strike rate (13,725 deliveries) for 300 strikes is only bettered by four out-and-out pace guns in Test history; in Rabada, Waqar Younis, and Allan Donald.
But like the refreshingly modern output of batting with several gears, Cummins’ qualities to adapt through different phases with the constantly changing shape and behaviour of the red ball put him in a special bracket. The latest Lord’s haul was characteristic of the quality. After snapping up No. 3 Wiaan Mulder during his first spell as first change behind Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the 15th over, Cummins returned his second scalp in the 40th, nipping his counterpart Temba Bavuma in a match-defining moment.
Returning post-lunch with a relatively older ball, Cummins razed the Proteas lower-order down with a hellish spell that eventually read 4.1-1-2-4, concocting his lengths and variations to unplayable levels. It is this secondary art with the typically seam-softening old ball, the Dukes or Kookaburra, no matter, that makes Cummins a distinct outlier, capable of producing the best of both worlds.
For a quick that can still hit the high 140-kphs, Cummins is a rare first change (No. 3) success that has already propelled him to third in the all-time charts. Only Ian Botham and Morne Morkel have churned out more wickets at No. 3 than Cummins’ 107. The 32-year-old’s 24.50 average and a wicket every 50 balls place him ahead of both Botham and Morkel. 73 of these strikes have been born in the WTC era, which serves as a brilliant microcosm that exemplifies Cummins’ dominance with the new and old ball.
Topping all pacers thus far in the WTC with 201 scalps, 160 have occurred within the first 80 overs of the innings. Sifting adeptly between the dual roles, Cummins tops all pacers across both phases.
Bowling 621 overs across three WTC cycles with the new ball (0-25), Cummins has racked up 70 wickets, averaging 23.73. His efficiency progresses with the innings, breaking down batting orders with a 47.1 strike rate and 90 scalps with the semi-old and old balls between overs 26 and 80 of an innings.
While there are a few contenders to match his new-ball efficacies, where he remains the highest wicket-taking pacer in the WTC, the old-ball competition dwindles to a select list where the wily Australian still dominates the wickets column. For a minimum of 50 WTC wickets with the old ball, only Bumrah, Rabada, and Hazlewood join Cummins in the sub-50 strike rate and sub-25 average club among pacers.
The chilling efficiency unsettles most batting orders, for there are no easy overs when Cummins loads up at any hour of the day. As Captain Cummo closes in on another ICC silverware, watch out for another episode of that distinct duality, some new ball spice, and old-ball sorcery.
