Cummins Lauds Australia's Dominant Start to World Test Championship Campaign

Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, has voiced his satisfaction with his team's impressive beginning to the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Australia, a consistent presence in the WTC Finals for the past two editions, has secured victories in their initial two Test matches of this cycle. This follows their decisive series triumph against the West Indies in Grenada.

Cummins delighted with the team's resilience after the Lord's Test. © AFP

"To secure an away win is never easy, so I'm really pumped with how we bounced back after Lord's (WTC Final)," Cummins stated after the Grenada Test. "It's been a good couple of weeks. Looking ahead to the pink ball Test next week, it's great to have already secured the series. These matches always present unique challenges. It's a dream start really, two wins from two, which puts us in a great position in the cycle, and we've played some really good cricket."

Cummins also acknowledged the invaluable contribution of the team's experienced players, specifically highlighting Steve Smith's crucial half-century. Smith's innings proved vital in rescuing the side from a precarious position of 28/3 in the second innings, with a lead of just 61 runs. "I think experience plays a significant role; we talked about someone like Steve Smith coming back," Cummins noted. "He may not have played at Grenada, but he's played on numerous wickets where you've got to find a different way to score. It might not be about hitting big drives down the ground; sometimes, you've got to grind your way to a 50, and I think that comes through experience."

He further added, "With experience, you've encountered many of the same problems before, allowing you to approach the situation with a level of calmness and work your way through it. As a captain, it makes my job a lot easier knowing you've got a lot of settled players there."

Addressing the performance of young opener Sam Konstas, who has struggled to make a significant impact in the series, scoring only 33 runs in four innings, Cummins offered his support. "Every innings can feel like the biggest thing in the world," he said. "But I think the statistics show that even the best batters in the world don't hit their average three out of four times or something like that. You're going to fail more often than you're going to succeed."

"As long as you're a quick learner, moving well, and giving yourself the best chance, just keep doubling down on that and judge yourself after a series or so, not innings by innings."

The West Indies' former captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, is also facing scrutiny due to his recent form. His 100th Test didn't prove to be very productive, with scores of 4, 4, 0, and 7, prompting head coach Daren Sammy to consider his future in the next game. "He hasn't looked good this series, and in a team where you are searching for performances, you get very close to say 'okay, do we give somebody else a chance?'" Sammy said. "But we will really have a good discussion, myself, the selection group, and the captain himself, about that particular situation."

Sammy also expressed concerns about the pitches in the Caribbean, suggesting that they need improvement to produce better Test batters. "It's hard to produce the quality of batters that we want to compete," he noted. "When you look at the surfaces that we play on, it's hard."

He elaborated, "If you look at all the averages, we barely have guys averaging 40-plus in (first-class) cricket. Those type of pitches, it doesn't allow you to come up technically sound, because you're really unsure. There's always doubt. And in an ideal world, you want to see our guys perform because of, not in spite of. It's something myself, the director of cricket, the franchise system, we've looked at very, very closely in trying to change that, trying to send the head groundsmen all over, trying to get the sort of wickets that allow batters to trust their techniques and stuff like that. And we also have some probably technical deficiencies that carry on from the Under-19, the youth level up to the national team."