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The legendary Ricky Ponting feels that Australian captain Pat Cummins is more of an old-fashioned Test captain, who lets the plans “show off” while England’s opposite part Ben Stokes tries to make something happen with every ball. The decisions of the two relatively new captains in the ongoing Ashes series have led to heated discussions.
While Stokes’s call to declare early in the first innings in the opening Test was dissected by the media and pundits alike, Cummins’ sparse use of spinning rookie Todd Murphy in the loss at Headingley also raised eyebrows.
“I think this was one of the more tactical series that I can remember, because of the two different styles of play, and potentially two contrasting styles of leadership as well,” Ponting said.
“Pat (Cummins) is kind of an old-fashioned Test match captain as he kind of lets fields set and lets plans sort of unfold and is happy to do that over a long period of time, while Stokes is another bit of the way.
“He kind of tries to make something happen on every ball, and so sometimes plans never get a chance to happen,” Ponting added.
Having been elevated to Test captain following the shock resignation of Tim Paine ahead of the 2021 Ashes, Cummins has enjoyed a good run as captain. The Australian spearhead began his career leading the team by winning the final Ashes series 4-0, and then beating Pakistan, the West Indies and South Africa. Australia also drew 1-1 with Sri Lanka away from home last year. His only loss in the series came against India earlier in the year before he defeated Rohit Sharma’s team in the final to lift the World Test Championship scepter.
“Look, Pat is still fairly young at the job. Let’s not forget he’s only been doing it for a couple of years and I’m sure he’s learning along the way,” Ponting said.
Australia lead the series 2-1 heading into the Fourth Test, which begins in Manchester on Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t question Pat at all. The fact that Australia are 2-1 up says he did a good job with me.
“There will always be little things in the game. When you lose, there are always little things in the game that people are happy to talk about.
“But at the end of the day I think the tactics are better off waiting to see the outcome at the end of the series and then we’ll be able to critique both captains about the outcome.”
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