Australia captain Pat Cummins has justified the decision not to play any warm-up matches before the World Test Championship final and the Ashes by stressing the hard nature of the schedule, which leaves little time for training matches.
Australia has instituted a no-tour match policy since their tour of Pakistan last year, which is being maintained for their key trip to England, which involves a WTC final against India at The Oval from June 7-11, following the Ashes from June 16 to July 31.
On Sunday, when asked if the vast majority of the Australian squad (with the possible exception of Marnus Labuschagne in County cricket and Cameron Green, and David Warner in the IPL) will be rusty due to little game time since the India series, the skipper begged to differ.
“Breaks are hard to come by,” added Cummins.
“I’ve always said that with six Tests (five in the Ashes), it’s better to be slightly underdone than overdone.” I’m speaking from the perspective of a bower. So I’d like to be physically fit.
“We did a lot of training back home.” “We have trained hard, rejuvenated and refreshed ourselves, and we are keen,” Cummins said at the ICC’s ‘Afternoon with Test Legends’ event at the Oval.
Cummins characterized the surface as good with lots of bounce, and he believes his team has enough bowlers to capitalize on the situation.
“You have to know when to push for wickets.” We need to gain 20 wickets, and it’s pointless to do everything in the first innings. “We have a lot of bowlers who can be used at various times,” Cummins explained.
Australia has only won two Tests at the Oval in the last 50 years, with a 14 percent overall victory record at the South London venue.
“Our playing group hasn’t played in all 50 Tests.” Most of us have seen a few Ashes games. A few batters have scored runs, and the bowlers have shown some pace and bounce. So that should be fine,” the captain remarked.
Cummins believed that after missing the bus the last time, his unit had genuinely turned the corner during this WTC season.
In fact, he revealed that they hadn’t really talked about it until they “missed out” on making the final in the maiden championship cycle in 2021.
“That (missing the final) has been the motivating factor behind the team, and we deserve to play in the final,” he explained.
“I think we’ve been pretty formidable at home and have only been (beaten) by Rohit’s team (Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli’s team) in the last couple of tours… we’ve been troubled.” “Everyone is getting into their grooves, and some are nearing the end of their careers and at the top of their games,” Cummins said.
