Following the end of the fourth test where Australian captain Pat Cummins had to endure a fair share of difficult moments against England who were fighting for a series-levelling victory that was ruined by rain, Australian legend Mark Waugh hit out at Cummins, questioning whether he is suitable to captain the Aussies or not.
During the first three Tests of the series, Cummins easily exceeded expectations as a captain, securing 14 wickets at an impressive average of just 23, and making valuable contributions with the bat like the match-saving unbeaten innings he had to save Australia from taking on a loss in the first test at Lords.
The skipper though hit a bit of a wall afterwards in the fourth test where he looked helpless against the English batsmen who found the boundary with ease as they cruised to a formidable total in the first innings.
Following these instances, Waugh said, “I just think he’s looked tired. He looked frazzled. It’s affecting his bowling, his captaincy, it’s affecting his fielding. He’s dropped catches, and you don’t want that from potentially the best cricketer in your team.”
“We’ve got a bit lucky leading this series 2-1. We probably should have lost Edgbaston and we probably would have lost Old Trafford so that makes it 3-1 if things had gone normally… So I think moving forward they’re going to have to think long and hard about this. Is Pat Cummins the right man for the long-term captaincy? Because when it’s tough I don’t think he is,” added the former selector.
Waugh also added to the comments and opined about the pressure of captaincy is also affecting Cummins’ individual performances.
” I think mentally he just looked burnt out in the field. There was so much pressure on him captaining the side and field placements and his own bowling suffered. He dropped catches in the field, he wasn’t concentrating, and he got out the first ball with the bat on the second day.
“You can see it’s affecting him and you don’t want that to happen to Pat Cummins because he’s a key player. You don’t want him burning out quickly,” Waugh concluded.
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