Pat Cummins has been appointed as Australia’s 47th Test captain while Steve Smith has been named his deputy ahead of the home Ashes which starts on December 8 in Brisbane.
Ashes 2021: Pat Cummins appointed Australia’s new Test captain (Reuters Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pat Cummins will replace Tim Paine as the next Australia Test captain
- Pat Cummins 1st fast bowler to be named Australia captain
- Cummins has an impeccable record and currently tops Test bowling rankings
Pat Cummins has been named as the 47th captain of the Australia Test team on the day Tim Paine’s manager announced that the former skipper is stepping away from cricket for an “indefinite mental health break”
Notably, Cummins will become the first fast bowler to captain the Australian Test team in the last 65 years. Ray Lindwall’s temporary one-Test stint in India in 1956 makes him the only specialist fast bowler to lead Australia in the longest format of the game.
The 47th captain of the Australian men’s Test cricket team! @patcummins30 pic.twitter.com/bM4QefTATt
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) November 26, 2021
“I am honoured to accept this role ahead of what will be a massive Ashes summer,” Cummins said in a statement.
“I hope I can provide the same leadership Tim (Paine) has given the group in the past few years.
“With Steve and I as captains, a number of very senior players in this squad and some great young talent coming through we are a strong and tightly knit group.
“This is an unexpected privilege which I am very grateful for and am very much looking forward to.”
Paine takes ‘indefinite mental health break: Manager
Tim Paine is stepping away from cricket for an “indefinite mental health break”, his manager said on Friday, leaving Australia’s Ashes preparations in disarray a week after the wicketkeeper’s resignation from the captaincy.
Paine was due to play for Tasmania in a domestic one-day match in Hobart on Friday in the lead up to the first Ashes test in Brisbane on Dec. 8, but will be unavailable for the “foreseeable future”, the state’s cricket association said.
“Confirming that @tdpaine36 is stepping away from cricket for an indefinite mental health break,” Paine’s manager James Henderson wrote in a social media post.
“We are extremely concerned for his and (wife) Bonnie’s well-being and will be making no further comment at this time.”
Speculation over Paine’s place in the test team has been rife since his resignation over revelations that he was investigated for sending sexually explicit text messages to a female former Cricket Tasmania (CT) staffer four years ago.
Click here for IndiaToday.in’s complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
