Pat Cummins Friday said he saw no reason why a bowler could not captain the Australian Test side after former skipper Michael Clarke backed him as Tim Paine's successor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Wicketkeeper Paine has been widely praised since taking over when Steve Smith was slapped with a ball-tampering ban in 2018, but he is 36 and there has been occasional criticism of his form.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Leadership speculation reared its head again this week when limited-overs captain Aaron Finch missed the second Twenty20 against India and Matthew Wade, rather than Smith, was tapped to become captain.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cummins, who was rested for that game, has been appointed the sole vice-captain for Australia's four-Test series against India starting next week and Clarke is a big fan of the world's number one bowler.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Patty's ready for it," Clarke told reporters Friday when asked who he favored to eventually take over from Paine. "I love that they've given him the full-time vice-captaincy."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Handing the captain's armband to a pace spearhead would be unusual, with Australia usually going for batsmen given a bowler's extra workload in the field. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The last fast bowler to captain Australia's Test team was Ray Lindwall for one game in 1956.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But Cummins said: "I have been speaking to a few people and they think out of all formats potentially Tests are easiest for a bowler to captain. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Obviously you're busy, you're going to be out there putting a lot of effort into bowling, but there's a bit more time afforded to you, the game moves at a slightly softer pace," he told reporters on a Zoom call.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I know there haven't been too many bowling captains, but I don't understand why it has to be a batter."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He said being backed by Clarke was "great to hear", but added: "Of course it means absolutely nothing because we have got some great captains at the moment."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Smith and Travis Head are also expected to be in the frame once Paine departs. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cummins will line-up in Adelaide next week for the opening Test having not played red-ball cricket for 11 months -- his longest gap since his Test debut in 2011.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But he has no concerns about making the switch from the limited-overs format.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I don't see too much of a problem," he said. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I've been playing quite a bit, high intensity. I've played 20 games or so in the last couple of months so I feel like I'm used to playing and it's just that slight tweak as we move into longer-form cricket."<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cummins-hoping-to-break-mould-as-bowling-test-captain.jpg", "alt_img": "image for cricket pat cummins on test captaincy ", "alt_title": "Pat Cummins", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Cummins Hoping To Break Mould As Bowling Test Captain On Cricketnmore", "seo_desc": "Pat Cummins Friday said he saw no reason why a bowler could not captain the Australian Test side after former skipper Michael Clarke backed him as Tim Paine's successor.\r\n\r\n", "seo_keywords": "India tour of Australia 2020-21, Pat Cummins", "tag": "", "tagging": "India tour of Australia 2020-21,Pat Cummins,", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "cummins-hoping-to-break-mould-as-bowling-test-captain", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2524", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "1", "created": "2020-12-11 10:28:30", "updated": "2020-12-11 10:28:52", "img_from": "Pat Cummins", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": "Pat Cummins, Captain, Test, Bowling, Australia ", "livescore_text": "", "livescore_link": "", "btn_text": "", "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2020-12-11 10:28:30", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2020-12-11 10:28:30", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/cummins-hoping-to-break-mould-as-bowling-test-captain-68373" }