'Antidote to Bazball': How 'genius' Cummins plot silenced great ...

Not for the first time in the life of his Australian captaincy, Pat Cummins didn’t have everyone’s trust during the first Ashes Test against England.

Having only lost three Tests since taking over in December 2021, doubt in the 30-year-old’s ability to lead the Australian Test team had become one of those cricket curiosities.

The results didn’t suggest anything was wrong, and yet, there had long been an underlying unease that there was.

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Why is still not abundantly clear, although the messy exit of former coach Justin Langer in early 2022, and the vocal support he received from his legendary contemporaries at the time, suggested a generational struggle was somewhat to blame.

Harder to explain, however, is how England has its own oldguard setting the agenda, but appears to have an abundance of trust in its new, wacky style.

You wonder if it would’ve irked Cummins to have Joe Root being hailed as a visionary for missing a ramp shot to start day four.

Ben Stokes’ decision to declare on day one with two wickets in hand, including a batter unbeaten on 118? A genius move that would pay off on another day. Bravo, sir.

Of course, Cummins had the last laugh at Edgbaston, where Australia claimed a two-wicket win for the ages, vanquishing demons from a two-run tragedy at the same ground 18 years prior.

Fittingly, it was a stunning rearguard from Cummins himself that sealed the win, and a 1-0 series lead for Australia.

The win will live long in the memory for how tightly it was contested, the constant changes in momentum, and for the war between conflicting philosophies.

In time, it could well be remembered as the moment that Cummins belatedly earned overwhelming approval in his leadership, and clearly defined his own style, too.

Since taking the reins from Tim Paine, Cummins has quietly built his own leadership brand, especially after the departure of Langer.

At its core, Cummins’ style is to be patient, calm, and confident in the fact that Australia has the skillset to bend games to their will. It’s about composure, but also understanding the value of a burst of aggression, and the right time to use it.

And, above all else, it’s about leading by example in a way that perhaps only a bowling captain could understand.

None of the above sounds sexy. It’s not a brand that’s as brash and entertaining as England’s ‘Bazball’, which has stolen all the plaudits and dominated the discussion in world Test cricket since its inception.

You won’t even be able to come up with a catchy name for it – Patball doesn’t have much of a ring to it. But Cummins’ leadership deserves the credit that has not been nearly as forthcoming as it has been for this new English era.

Australia’s perfectly-judged take-down of Bazball at Edgbaston, with less than five overs left and after 7pm local time, was proof that Cummins is an exceptionally match-aware captain who consistently rises under pressure.

His willingness to wear criticism, and not melt under it, while doubling down on his own methods to earn iconic wins, is the stuff that legendary captains are born out of.

Cummins was lashed during the Test for adopting defensive fields, particularly in the second innings when Root revealed England’s aggressive intentions.

Kumar Sangakkara called Cummins “one-dimensional” and said he was just “waiting and hoping”, while Nasser Hussain said that Australia’s field was even more conservative than in a “one-dayer”.

“It just seems to be the way Pat Cummins thinks,” Sangakkara said. “Just spread the field, and wait and hope. Nothing different from the Australian think tank.”

Similar was said at the start of the innings on day three when England was 0-26 before rain started to fall.

When play resumed, Cummins identified the time to attack and did so himself, igniting a stunning Aussie surge that produced 2-2 in the space of 22 balls to put the Test back in the balance.

He finished the second innings with 4-63, while being hit for 3.43 runs-an-over which, against this England XI, is impressive.

Australia had limited the damage to a fourth innings chase of 281, which still looked formidable on paper, but was always attainable.

The tourists ultimately slipped to 8-227, but England had made the fatal error of not making Cummins one of those eight wickets.

What followed across the Test’s final 12 overs - with bat in hand, not ball - perfectly encapsulated Cummins’ leadership.

With Australia still 54 runs shy of victory, Cummins didn’t panic and slowly chipped away at the deficit, happily making full use of the time available to him.

A more composed, winning performance by a touring Test captain there has seldom been at the Ashes – and that’s before mentioning the chaotic environment in which it was produced.

Langer wrote for The Telegraph after the match that Cummins had shown that the way to overcome the chaos of Bazball.

“Questions have been raised before, and indeed during this Test match, on what the antidote to Bazball might be,” Langer wrote. “The Australian captain just showed the world; it is ice in the veins.

He added: “Australia reminded us here that they are the No 1 Test team in the world for a reason. They trust their method. As they should. It works and they win consistently.

“For Cummins to keep his composure after a difficult first day, first ball even, showed the class of the man, especially in making his highest score for five years.”

Meanwhile, Hussain also paid tribute to the character of Cummins, noting how he responded to his critics, and his calmness under pressure.

“To be able to hang in there when England played the way they did, Joe Root scooping him and him having to set fields to counteract it, was a mark of him as both a cricketer and character,” Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail.

“The criticism he faced for adopting defensive fields, the ability to soak all of that up, and then on the fifth evening come out with 72 runs needed and bat in such a clinical manner was exceptional.”

He added: “If Australia had lost, everyone would’ve been questioning his tactics, and his captaincy for being too defensive. He wins, and it’s genius.”

As cruel as it may seem in a fickle game, by winning – no matter how close it was – it’s England who must now answer questions around its own, risky game plan.

It will do so courtesy of a moment of vindication for Cummins, who proved that his style doesn’t need a catchy label to excel.

“By no means am I saying that England’s method is wrong, I have loved watching them play, but it just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat,” as Ricky Ponting explained on Sky Sports.

“This is a long and hard game. Australia’s method has stood up and it has worked.”