Newly-appointed Australia Test captain Pat Cummins said on Sunday that the new Australian leadership style will be a collaborative approach between him and vice-captain Steve Smith. Cricket Australia entrusted the fast bowler with the top job after Tim Paine stepped down as Test captain following a sexting scandal.
Pat Cummins is all set to take over as Australia’s Test captain in a high-profile Ashes series, starting December 8 against England at home and here will be pressure on the senior bowler as workload management will be in focus in a 5-Test series.
Australia appointed Steve Smith as vice-captain, 3 years after he was stripped of captaincy following the Sandpaper scandal in South Africa but Smith will play an integral role in the near future, according to Cummins.
Cummins said Smith and him have had discussions over the last few days and that the star batter is happy to shoulder additional responsibility as the vice-captain of the Test team.
“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,” Cummins told cricket.com.au.
“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.
“That’s what I’ve asked for, and I’m really glad Steve is happy with that as well,” he added.
SMITH IS CENTRAL TO THE FUNCTIONING OF TEAM: CUMMINS
Smith was targeted in the past of overshadowing Tim Paine by being involved in on-field decisions but Cummins believes the top Test batter will be involved in decision-making and that he will take over the job of leading the side whenever he is rested or injured and it will be a seamless process, given their equation over the years.
“I made it pretty clear if I was given the captaincy that this is how I saw the team running and tried to bring Steve along for that as well because he’s so central to how I see my captaincy style and how I see the team functioning,” he said.
“We both got a chance to think quite a lot about it over the last few days before we presented to a couple of board members and selectors, and that was after chatting between us two as well
“I could not think of a better bloke, and a bloke that gives you more comfort if I was to be injured or miss a game. Steve could take right over and it would be seamless.”
Australia host England in the first of the 5-Test Ashes series at the Gabba in Brisbane on December 8.
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