Australian Cricket team is currently on top of the moon after they won their maiden T20 Championship. But back to reality, there is an Ashes Test Series waiting not far down the corner.
Australia had more or less a set team that was supposed to take on England at home but a twist of turn of events saw Australia losing their "regular" Test Captain~ Tim Paine to an explicit message scandal. With Paine marking himself unavailable for the Ashes, cricket Australia had a job in hand, ie to find the "Next Test Captain."
The two probable contenders were former Australian skipper Steven Smith and fast bowler Pat Cummins.
All those discussions were put to rest when Cricket Australia zeroed down on Cummins as the next Australian Test Captain. Steve Smith was named as Cummin's deputy.
Cummins earned the right to captain the Baggie Green after completing a tough interview process by a Cricket Australia approved five-person panel. The panel comprised of Chairman Richard Freudenstein, Chief Executive Nick Hockley, Director Mel Jones and Selectors George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide.
Cummins belong to that exclusive list of bowlers who was often touted as a potential captaincy candidate. Cummins was promoted as the joint vice-captain for the first time in 2019 before being renamed as the sole deputy in the following year. He also had a brief captaincy stint with the New South Wales One day side, where he captained them in 4 games.
Pat Cummins is only the second bowler after Ray Lindwall to captain the Baggy Green. However, Lindwall's tenure was a one-off stint. Cummins has proved tremendous longetivity and durability as a Fast bowler since the last 4 years and had missed only 2 of Australia's last 35 tests which is quite amazing owing to the fact that fast bowlers often get succumbed to injuries or are given a break due to the workload management.
With all being said than done, it will be interesting to see how Pat Cummins lead up to the challenge as he walks out for the toss for the first time, on 8th December against Joe Root.