Opinion Is Cummins the best ever Australian Captain.

[adelaidecrows]

There is a big debate running around online at the moment that Cummins and Australia being the current holders of every trophy in Test, ODI and T20 makes him the best Australian captain of all time.

My Take - Unfortunately not only wouldnt Cummins be captain in any other era of Australian cricket he shouldnt be talked in the same breath as the greats. Cummins is a good captain for the era he is in, dont get me wrong. But thats the unfortunate truth. This is the weakest era I think test Cricket has ever seen, largely to the influx of t20 and the impact its had on the depth and skill of Cricket. We have now a whole world of league hopping professional T20 players who once would have pushed for national selection in odi and test. This has severely affected teams such as the West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and to even some extent England. Even Australia has pushed its rb cricket aside for gimmick cricket and its had an affect.

Interested to see what you guys all think but I just dont see the same levels of competition we once had. Everythings so diluted now with players opting out of rb cricket to chase easy money in t20 leagues. And to put this team into context, there is no chance, absolute zero chance this teams defeats the 90s,00s teams of Australia. This team wouldnt bowl out the better Indian teams either of the 00s and barely could last time they played.

Its an interesting debate but I just dont see it.

 

[El Doederino]

I agree with you. The competition is weak now. I rate Border as our best for how he lead us through the West Indies era which really set up the culture of success we still enjoy

 

[adelaidecrows]

I agree with you. The competition is weak now. I rate Border as our best for how he lead us through the West Indies era which really set up the culture of success we still enjoy

I agree, Border demanded better standards and he never accepted 2nd best in an era where we were not a great team. Yet we began to push the best teams and start winning.

 

[Cap]

Thought Taylor was pretty handy captain

But Cummins puts up a solid case based on his results and his performances.

Not sure if he'd be as successful without a certain S Smith in the slips though.

But without doubt a superstar cricketer and one of the best we've had in the modern generation

 

[Vader]

Just to clarify, we hold all the bilateral trophies, but not all the ICC trophies. We do not currently hold the T20 World Cup trophy. Only a minor point.

Agree that despite winning this is the weakest team we've had in a long time. We're just benefiting from a historically weak time in world cricket, which you correctly attribute to the rise of T20.

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[ContrarianCrow]

Fair to point out that while the era might be weaker - this Australian team on a talent basis is also weaker, especially in the batting department. Smith aside, Cummins' record has been achieved with a batting lineup that's varied between 'just above average' and 'barely functional'. We only had 2 century-makers in this entire series and we still won back the BGT for the first time in 10 years.

 

[Slippery Pete]

He’s not even the best captain in the team let alone ever.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

He’s not even the best captain in the team let alone ever.

Taylor, Border, Waugh & Ponting all better strategic leaders.

Cummins is more a lead by example guy who has thrived on been made captain... but too many times when things are not going well, he has lacked ideas to change the course of play.

 

[StonesThrow]

Has done very well with a pretty average batting line up. One of our better fast bowling line ups though, which he is a part of.

Hard to fault the guy as a player and captain. Has had a few strategic calls go wrong, but you could go through any team and find wrong calls from time to time. Has won key games in all formats, so hard to say he's weak strategically.

 

[Cromulant]

Hard to compare eras.

Border took a team of nobodies and won in England, Taylor took a mix of youth and experience and went to the West Indies and beat the Champs.

Waugh turned us into a fearsome, ruthless unit who were unbeatable for large periods of time. Had some of the very best players in history in his side. Ponting oversaw a transitional phase, lost the Ashes for the first time in 17 years but regained it in style.

Cummins has a weaker side, though the fast bowling lineup is still very strong. Tend to agree this era is a weak one but you can say its a weak Aussie side too.

If he can win a Test series in India that'll be something none of these guys have done.

*technically Ponting was captain in 04 but we won the series while he was injured.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Taylor, Border, Waugh & Ponting all better strategic leaders.

Taylor the best captain out of those for mine.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Taylor the best captain out of those for mine.

100% agree!

Why i listed him 1st.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I'd still give it to Steve Waugh even though he had better cattle than Tubs or Ponting.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I'd still give it to Steve Waugh even though he had better cattle than Tubs or Ponting.

Waugh was our most ruthless captain.

Our equivalent of Clive Lloyd.

 

[Cap]

I'd still give it to Steve Waugh even though he had better cattle than Tubs or Ponting.

Invented the mental disintegration stuff, loved his intensity.

Were I think Cummins excells is his performances when it counts, rather than the strategy stuff.

And he gets points for pissing off a number of bed wetters and then becoming hugely successful.

 

[Interloperer]

I think Great Australian Captains are the norm, with a few massive whiffs in between. Cummins is one of the good ones, but doesn't stand out amongst them.

I think being a bowling captain, who is also competent and calm under the pressure with the bat, gives the impression that he's ubiquitous and doing a lot of the work himself.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Taylor did have Warne at his absolute best. However, by the same token, I also think we were lucky in that Taylor brought the best of out Warne.

I remember him saying back in the day that he had to be careful not to burn him out, as although he was obviously the best strike bowler we’ve ever seen, he was also very good at containing and it was tempting to use him for that purpose too.

So even with Warne at his absolute peak, Taylor was thinking of Shane’s longevity. He had this great power at his disposal, but also knew that it came with great responsibility.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Waugh was our most ruthless captain.

Our equivalent of Clive Lloyd.

Best Clive Lloyd story. Before a game against England, both captains read their list to the opposition. The English Captain got two names into his list when Lloyd merely says 'play who you want, man, it will make no difference' and then walks off.