Pat Cummins and Test captaincy is a combination that goes hand in glove.
And Australia’s triumphant skipper was in fine form when he took time out from the celebrations to speak to the world’s media in the bowels of The Oval’s Bedser Stand following his team’s ICC
World Test Championship victory.
“I think the great thing about this final is we feel like we’ve played awesome cricket for the last two years and being there at the end holding the trophy feels really well deserved,” Australia’s
charismatic captain said.
“Obviously the win here is special, but to make it to the final you’ve got to win everywhere in the world. I think this cycle was 20 Test matches…and the boys were fantastic the whole way through. We adapted well and that’s what makes it so satisfying,” he said.
Cummins has now won an ICC title in all three formats of the international game. But choosing
which is most special is not something that the 30-year-old wants to do.
“They all feel a little bit different – we were just talking about that,” Cummins said.
“No doubt Test matches for us are our favourite format; it’s the biggest challenge I think in every
way. This competition, pitting us up against everyone in the world, it’s got to be right up there,” he said.
“I don’t know, it’s probably like trying to pick your favourite kid, but it’s satisfying,” Cummins said.
A victory like this deserves to be celebrated, and Australia wrapped up the win so early on day five that they opened up plenty of time to savour the victory before attention switches to another big series on the horizon, the ICC reported.
“I think we’ll sit around in the changing rooms for a while and then we’ll find a nice sunny English
beer garden somewhere this afternoon to sit back and celebrate,” Cummins said.
“It’s been an amazing two years. We’ve had this final in the diary for a while. It’s been something
that we’ve been building up for, so it’s something we’re going to savour,” he said.
“I know we’ve got a big series (Ashes against England) but we can worry about that in a couple of days’ time. You only get a few of these moments in your career where you can sit back, acknowledge a pretty special achievement and this is one of those times,” Cummins said.
The nature of Australia’s victory is certainly worth savouring, and Cummins reserved particular praise for the performance of Scott Boland, who made another vital contribution when he removed both Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in the same over during an excellent spell of seam bowling.
“I feel like we’re starting to become too used to Scotty Boland just doing that. He just keeps finding another level doesn’t he? He’s unbelievable,” Cummins added.
“He was our best bowler all game, held it together, didn’t go for many runs and always looked threatening,” Cummins said.
“To get two wickets in a row was just reward for how well he bowled throughout the whole game,”
he said.
The next WTC Final is now two years away, with that third iteration of the final scheduled for the summer of 2025 across the famous Thames at Lord’s.
But Cummins didn’t feel that now was the right time to be discussing particular players and their futures.
“I have always said that if a team member is 18 or 38 and still is in our best XI, I want them picked,” he added.
“I think there will be natural progressions, but I don’t think there will be us kicking anyone outside of the team or pushing anyone out of the team prematurely,” Cummins said.
And the Australian skipper also had a kind final word for the vocal Indian supporters who dominated the atmosphere across the five days’ play at The Oval.
“We’ve played India a lot and wherever you play India in the world they seem to have plenty of fans that are very vocal,” Cummins said.
“It was great to have a base for the sell-out crowd every single day. That’s what we want for a Test Match Final. It had a great feeling to it and it didn’t really affect us too much, but it was a good buzz,”
he added.
