Pat Cummins’ captaincy is about to face its biggest moment of truth

Résumé détaillé

Pat Cummins has nearly always met the moment in the 15 years since he was presented with his baggy green in Johannesburg. He must do it again on Friday.

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Pat Cummins has won big matches for Australia with both bat and ball. He has advocated on climate change, and stuck up for his teammates in the aftermath of Justin Langer’s axing as coach. Friday is as big a test of his leadership as those moments.

Cummins has nearly always met the moment in the 15 years since he was presented with his baggy green in Johannesburg. His task now as Test captain is to unite a dressing room and re-unify Australian cricket after a bruising week for the game.

For all the work Cummins and his teammates have done in rebuilding the reputation of the national men’s team, the prevailing view of the side, according to the Australian public this week, is they are cheats. Lying cheats as well.

Cricket Australia’s hasty investigation in 2018 left many gaps, which Usman Khawaja’s warts-and-all memoir and David Warner’s social media posts have filled. Warner is likely to say more on Friday when he suits up in the Kayo Sports commentary box in Perth for the opening one-day international against England.

While there has been much angst in and outside the dressing room at the candid nature of Khawaja’s book Sabr, much of the criticism of the chapter dedicated to one of Australian sport’s biggest scandals has played the man rather than the ball.

Whether friendships forged under the baggy green are lost forever is a matter for Khawaja and his former teammates to discuss. Of more significance is how Cummins addresses the central premise of Khawaja’s claims: that the whole team knew sandpaper was being used.

Perhaps Cummins can give ground on Khawaja’s argument that the entire team was complicit as they all stood to gain from an illegally altered ball that hooped around corners. The fining of every player in an XI for a slow over rate is an example of cricket’s one-in, all-in approach to certain indiscretions.

What would be more surprising is a confession to knowledge…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Sydney Morning Herald. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.