Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc are set to play their sixth consecutive Test together in Adelaide, which would be the most they have played together consecutively
Alex Malcolm
“Convincing series win for Australia as Pakistan’s top order fails to deliver”
Andrew McGlashan also points out that the hunt for David Warner’s permanent replacement now begins for the hosts
Australia’s fast bowlers look on course to play a full summer of seven Tests against Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand, as both coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins have been surprised by how strong they feel physically all three after a huge year of international cricket. .
Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have played 28 Tests together as a fast bowling trio, but it is only the second time in their careers that they have managed to play five Tests together in a row.
The previous time came with the help of a Covid-induced 11-month gap between fourth and fifth after playing the full four-match home Test series against India in December 2020 and January 2021, and then the first Test of the Ashes in December 2021.
But to that extent, they managed to play the last two Tests of the Ashes series together in July 2023, with the three playing at least four Tests in that series, while Cummins and Starc also played the final of the World Test Championship.
They then played 10 of the 11 matches in the ODI World Cup together, with Starc rested for one match before the semi-final, before playing unchanged in the Pakistan series. Amid all the talk of who will replace David Warner, McDonald has confirmed that he is set to go as an unchanged trio in the first Test against the West Indies starting on January 17 in Adelaide and could play the next four against the West Indies India and New Zealand without a break.
“There’s nothing to suggest they’ll need rest,” McDonald said after the four-day win in Sydney. “They have a bit of a gap from the West Indies Test match. I could see almost an unchanged bowling line-up for Adelaide.
“It’s probably something we’ve noticed, they’ve probably gotten better [Pakistan] series. Specifically, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. And Mitch Starc, I think his ball speed in that game was at the highest level.”
Australia’s selectors and support staff did not expect the trio to be so resilient after a grueling 2023. There were meticulous plans put in place to have Scott Boland and Lance Morris ready for the Perth Test in anticipation of one or two of the three starters who returned to the team with pain after the World Cup.
But that scenario never materialised, meaning both Morris and Boland were sent back to the BBL to play cricket, with Boland’s BBL season match for the Melbourne Stars last night his first competitive game since on 19 November when he took eight wickets in a Sheffield Shield tour against Queensland.
Morris was also left disappointed that he was only allowed to play four of the first six Shield matches for Western Australia and was only able to play one limited-overs club cricket game in Perth between his final Shield match on 17 November and his first BBL game of the season on Dec. 20.
McDonald said they had planned to need reinforcements but three four-day Test matches against Pakistan had helped their cause.
“In the background, we’re kind of planning for five days of Test matches and if we were to go five days, it would put a huge strain and pressure on the bowling unit,” McDonald said. “I think we were unlucky but in the first Test match in Perth, there was a shortened second innings for the bowling unit.
“That gives you the flexibility to then be able to push them a bit harder throughout the Pakistan series. And we’ve always said that we plan in the background. The players want to play every Test match. That’s very important. We want to pick the best Test team we can at any time. So it’s just impressive that balance in how many games they can play without compromising, I guess, their long-term future.”
Cummins said before the Sydney Test that he hoped all three could play the full set of seven Tests over the summer. After the win in Sydney, where he was named player of the series, he was surprised at how good he felt.
“It felt great, the body felt really good,” Cummins said. “There are times when you bowl well and the wickets don’t really follow. Really happy with how it all went. Felt fresh, bowling where I wanted, going through the gears.
“By the end of the World Cup, bowlers always carry a few nicks, I felt a bit sore and got beaten up, but after a couple of weeks rest I was a bit surprised how I performed in Perth, I felt really good. After How much cricket we have played to be injury free for our first XI is credit to the lads but also to the medical staff and the coaches and how they have managed us over the last year or two. I couldn’t be happier with how everything has worked out.”
Alex Malcolm is associate editor at ESPNcricinfo