Pat Cummins

It’s not often I have admiration for an Australian cricketer. There’s one or two I enjoy to watch but on reflection the last time I think I really ‘admired’ an Australian cricketer was Brett Lee at Edgbaston in 2005.

I’ve been following the Test Series in South Africa (a terribly short 2 test series), South Africa v Australia with interest and found myself actually cheering an Australian cricketer’s success.

Pat Cummins was the stuff of Victor comics – an 18 year old plucked from obscurity (after only playing 4 first class games) who then took 7 wickets in a match and hit a four for the winning runs (recording his highest batting score in the process). It was the stuff of dreams. Australian cricket has struggled for the last couple of years as old-hands retired or were dropped and mediocre or inconsistent players took their place. Throughout it all I haven’t shed a single tear at the team’s demise but I remember an Australian telling me (after Australia had drubbed England at cricket a few years ago) that things are cyclical, and so it appears.

It’s always great when young players ‘come through’. Whether it’s a 22 year old Gazza a youthful Ronnie O'Sullivan, David Gower, Andy Murray, Robbie Keane, David Beckham and even dare I say it Wayne Rooney. Some rise and then fall, some become sporting institutions and some get extensively tattooed.

It’ll be interesting to see how Pat Cummins fares, and probably I’ll change my view of him if he takes 7 wickets in his first game against England

Pat Cummins biffs a four