Revealed on: Oct 03, 2023
When Australia tackle India on the eighth of October of their World Cup opener, Pat Cummins shall be main his nation for less than the fifth time within the ODI enviornment. You must return to 1979 to search out the final time Australia had a captain who was as inexperienced at a World Cup. On that event, it was Kim Hughes who had by no means captained his nation in restricted overs. Considerably ominously, the Australians could be dumped out within the group levels after shedding two of their three pool fixtures.
Australia’s 2023 World Cup prediction
As issues stand, Cummins’ males are tipped to do higher than the category of 1979, with the most recent Cricket World Cup 2023 odds pricing Australia at 4/1 to win the showpiece in India.
Whereas the vast majority of cricket bets have been positioned on India who’re the outright favourites at 9/5, the expectation is that Australia will make the semi-finals.
However is that an excessively optimistic prediction for the five-time World Cup champions, contemplating their lack of management expertise among the many present 50-over suppose tank?
Earlier than answering that query, it needs to be famous that Cummins has proven himself to be a reliable captain within the longest format. The 30-year-old led Australia to the World Test Championship trophy in 2023 after emphatically beating India by 209 runs throughout the remaining at Lord’s. Following that, Australia retained the Ashes with Cummins on the helm following a 2-2 tied sequence towards England.
✅x3 pic.twitter.com/h26nmyE6rx
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) June 12, 2023
Briefly, Cummins has had appreciable success as Australia’s Check captain since his appointment in November 2021.
The distinctive problem of captaining in white-ball cricket
Nevertheless, the fast has been just about absent within the ODI enviornment resulting from damage and Cricket Australia’s efforts to handle his workload.
The result’s that Cummins hasn’t had time to chop his tooth within the 50-over format so far as captaincy goes. For Australian followers, the regarding actuality is that main in red-ball cricket is vastly totally different from main in white-ball cricket, with fielding restrictions and powerplays coming into the equation within the allotted overs format.
Captains typically must be aggressive in ODIs and maintain their nerve which is one thing that Cummins was uncomfortable doing towards England throughout the Ashes. Greater than as soon as, the quick bowler opted to begin England’s innings with a number of fielders on the boundary. In Cummins’ opinion, this was to fight the now well-known ‘Bazball’ onslaught the place England threw warning to the wind on the prime of their innings.
This isn’t a luxurious that Cummins could have in ODI cricket as solely two fielders are permitted to be exterior the 30-yard circle throughout the first ten overs. In fact, this will increase to 4 till the fortieth over and after that, 5 fielders are allowed exterior the circle for the rest of the innings.
The broader level is that field placement tactics gave the impression to be Cummins’ Achilles heel throughout the Ashes and made him appear to be an excessively cautious captain. Within the 50-over format, one of these hesitancy is rapidly uncovered as groups fiercely go after the bowling throughout the preliminary powerplay.
How Cummins will get this explicit balancing act proper stays to be seen however with out a lot outing within the center for trial and error over the previous couple of years, Australia’s ODI captain shall be studying on the job on the World Cup.
