MELBOURNE: Newly-appointed Australia captain Pat Cummins on Friday indicated that his leadership style could be different from his predecessors, saying he will be leaning a lot on his deputy Steve Smith for tactical advice.
Cummins was Friday named Australia’s first fast bowler Test captain on a fulltime basis, with former skipper Smith as his deputy, to replace Tim Paine, who resigned last week over a ‘sexting’ scandal four years ago.
“It might look a little bit different from the outside potentially to other captains in the past. There’s a couple of more unknowns about having a bowling captain and that’s why from the outset I was absolutely determined if I was captain to have someone like Steve as vice-captain next to me,” Cummins told reporters.
“There will be times on the field when I throw to Steve, and you’ll see Steve moving fielders around, maybe doing bowling changes and taking a bit more of an elevated vice-captaincy and that’s what I really want.”
The 28-year-old Cummins, who has taken 164 wickets in 34 Tests since making debut in 2011, made it clear that he will lean heavily on experienced Smith — who has played 77 Tests — for his on-field decisions.
“There’s going to be times where I’m out in the middle, it’s a hot day, I’m in the middle of a (bowling) spell and I need to turn to people for advice for tactics, for experience, and that’s one of the big reasons I wanted Steve to be vice-captain.
“Steve’s got such huge strengths, especially around tactically out on the field and sees it differently from first slip, huge experience with spinners, bowling changes and mapping out a game so I’ll be leaning on him hugely for that. We’ll nut out how exactly that works, but it will be a real collaborative approach,” added Cummins whose captaincy begins with the first Ashes Test against England at the Gabba on December 8.
Cummins said he made it clear to the five-person panel of Cricket Australia board members, chief executive Nick Hockley and national selectors which interviewed him that Smith is “so central to how I see my captaincy style”.
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