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‘We left something behind’: Missed chances in 2019 driving Cummins’ bid for Ashes glory
By Malcolm Conn
For Australia captain Pat Cummins, this Ashes series represents unfinished business – and there is no one with more unfinished business in England than David Warner.
As the Australians land in London before the World Test Championship final against India and five Ashes Tests, all crammed into eight weeks, they arrive with the feeling that the 2-2 drawn series in 2019 was a hollow achievement.
“I felt like we left something behind in 2019,” Cummins told this masthead. “I think the second and third Tests were both ours to win and, obviously, the fifth Test we didn’t play particularly well.
“Those opportunities are rare over in England, and we just didn’t quite grab a couple that came up. But again, the core of our side is similar this time around to 2019 – as is theirs – so hopefully we’re better for it.”
The underachievement was greatest for Warner, whose vulnerability to Stuart Broad resulted in him producing just 95 runs at an average of 9.5 for the series, the low point of what has been a brilliant, if fading, career.
However, Cummins believes that, at age 36, Warner still has much to offer, despite scoring just one century in his past seven series, an epic double ton in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne against South Africa. In his other 10 innings in seven Tests last summer, Warner managed 141 runs at 14.1, without a half century.
Ben Stokes delivers the final blow at Headingley as England win one of the most memorable Ashes Tests of all time.Credit: PA
“He certainly has some credits,” said Cummins, while reiterating that there are no selection guarantees in professional sport.
However, Warner’s strong finish to a solid IPL, where he scored 186 runs from 116 balls in total from his last three matches, has Cummins and the rest of the Australian team hierarchy excited.
“Looking from afar, he looks like he’s done a fantastic job for Delhi,” Cummins said. “He’s shown his form and I still know that him walking out to bat, there’s not a bowler in the world that doesn’t have that bit of trepidation bowling at Dave Warner.
“I’m sure he’ll bring that fire for the World Test Championship final, where he walks out there and puffs the chest out and is a pretty formidable opener.”
Stuart Broad gets the better of David Warner in England in 2019 – again.Credit: Getty
It was a view strongly expressed by coach Andrew McDonald earlier in the week.
“We’re optimistic with what Dave’s got left,” McDonald said. “We’ve picked him in the squad, and we feel he’ll play a really big part in the Ashes and the World Test Championship.”
Warner’s wife, Candice, made a legitimate point on Fox Sports’ The Back Page program earlier this month when she asked: “If Dave doesn’t perform in that first Test, who do they bring in that’s better?”
The answer is no one. Next cab off the rank to replace Warner is Marcus Harris, 30, who was awarded a Cricket Australia contract this year and has been in good form for Gloucester this season, scoring 457 runs at 57 with two centuries in five County Championship matches.
Jofra Archer floors Marnus Labuschagne on the last day of the Lord’s Test in 2019.Credit: Getty
However, as his record suggests, Harris has been unable to convert his dominance at first-class level – 10,012 runs at 40 – to the Test arena. In 14 Tests since 2018, Harris averages 25, without a century. In England in 2019, he played three Tests and averaged 9.66, remarkably similar to Warner’s struggles.
If 2019 is any guide, Warner and some of his teammates need only modest improvements to help Australia claim their first Ashes series victory in England since 2001.
Such was the inconsistency of Australia’s batting in 2019, there was a great divide between the phenomenon that was Steve Smith (774 runs at better than 111) and the breakout series of Marnus Labuschagne (who averaged better than 50, also in four Tests), and the remainder of the line-up. Matthew Wade was next best with an average of 34 and Peter Siddle fourth with 28.
Labuschagne, 29 next month, has since built himself into the No.1-ranked Test batter in the world and Smith, 34 on Friday, is ranked No.3. Significantly, Travis Head, 29, is ranked sixth after two stellar home seasons and Usman Khawaja, 36, is seventh after his fairytale 18-month revival. Head and Khawaja, however, have much to prove in England, where they average 27 and 20 respectively.
Pat Cummins and Australia celebrate a wicket in Manchester in 2019.Credit: Getty
While the visitors’ improved batting could put a different spin on this series, one innings changed the course of the 2019 Ashes – and it wasn’t played by an Australian.
Having cantered to victory in the first Test at Edgbaston, when Jimmy Anderson broke down after just four overs, and fought out an evenly matched draw at Lord’s, England were bowled out for just 67 in reply to Australia’s 179 at Headingley.
What shaped as an Ashes-securing victory set the stage for one of the greatest moments in Test history as Ben Stokes carried England to a one-wicket win with a diligent, then breathless, 135 not out.
The spectre of Stokes, now captain, hangs over this series. He and coach Brendon McCullum have inspired England to pillage runs at an unprecedented rate with their unnerving “Bazball” approach.
However, Labuschagne and Cummins regard Stokes’ series-defining innings as more a one-off moment of brilliance than any precursor to “Bazball”, particularly given Australia flogged England 4-0 in Australia two summers ago with similar sides.
“I think Stokes was actually like 10 [runs] off 90 [balls] at the start of his innings,” Labuschagne recalled. “Ben Stokes, being the calibre of player that he is, read the scenario, getting himself in and building that platform.
“Then, obviously, he played arguably one of the best innings ever in Test cricket to lead England to victory. That’s still one of the best things I’ve ever seen, but I’m not sure it’s the picture of Bazball that it might appear.”
Cummins agreed.
“I think that Headingley game was very rare in Test cricket,” he said. “But we’ve seen a lot of those types of games in T20s and one-dayers. Perhaps they’ve become more common in Test matches nowadays than they were before, as batters for most teams are a bit more aggressive.
David Warner’s form in the IPL has given the Australian camp cause for home.Credit: AP
“But these guys we’ve played a lot over in England and back here in Australia in recent years, so I feel like we match up pretty well with them. But we’ll wait and see.”
While much of the focus will be on the batting, the real challenge for both teams, and Cummins in particular, will be the fast bowlers surviving six Tests in eight weeks, beginning with the World Test Championship final at the Oval on June 7.
The selectors chose four fast bowlers in the original touring party – Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland – but fellow seamers Michael Neser and Sean Abbott are informally included in Australia’s squad after stints in county cricket.
Australia’s preparation begins with three days of training, bonding and golf at little-known Formby near Liverpool. It will be hugs and back slaps all round as players reconnect from Australia, county cricket in England and the IPL in India.
Given Hazlewood’s injury-marred past two seasons, which includes a minor side niggle in the IPL, he remains in doubt for the WTC final, with Boland, 34, a chance to resume his short but remarkable Test career.
And Neser, 33, is every chance of adding to his two Tests, while Abbott, 31, may be presented with the opportunity of a Test debut after 20 one-day and T20 internationals in nine years.
Pondering the most congested Test schedule in England in Australian cricket history, Cummins observed: “We’re going to need everyone.”
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