Eyes on Irish: Australia out to follow in minnow's footsteps
Southampton: Pat Cummins admits Australia are “blessed with riches” when it comes to their fast bowling resources as the tourists look to double down on the destruction wrought by Ireland against England when the Ashes begin at Edgbaston next Thursday.
There was no live streaming service of Australia’s intra-squad match this week at the Ageas Bowl, which has served as their final proper warm-up game for the first Test, as well as a selection trial for some. That might be a good thing for Joe Root and the England top order given the heat and precision Cummins and James Pattinson, in particular, have bowled with. Most of the dozen or so Australian batsmen gathered in southern Hampshire have struggled to combat them.
Cummins and co could not help cracking a smile as veteran Ireland seamer Tim Murtagh – who played in a Sydney first-grade one-day premiership side with David Warner and his brother Steve, as well as former England opener Sam Robson, at Eastern Suburbs more than a decade ago – tore through England at Lord’s on the first day of the historic Test.
Of course, as has been shown this week, Australia have their own issues with the bat. They’re being careful not to read too much into the old enemy's capitulation for 85.
“We saw it,” Cummins said. “It looked like hard work. It looked like Ireland bowled really well. I only watched a little bit of it.
“But, I suppose it’s kind of similar to our preparation really. It looks like a tough wicket to score runs on. They’ll be fine, I’m sure. They have a couple of guys to come back in.”
For Australia and their quicks, it’s a question of who goes out at Edgbaston if Pattinson – who was virtually unable at times in the practice match and whose performance was even better than his match figures of 4-35 from 23 overs suggested – comes in.
The seasoned Peter Siddle has also been in excellent form in a country so suited to his bowling and where he has taken a mountain of wickets in recent years.
Then there are Cummins' regular frontline colleagues, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, the latter having just broken the record for the most wickets at a World Cup.
He wasn’t as on the money as some of the others on the first two days here. Whether he was feeling the effects of the white-ball campaign was unclear, but there was concern on Wednesday when Starc did not bowl and after leaving the field with knee soreness was sent for a scan. The Australian camp reported he had been given the all clear, however, and he was due to resume bowling on Thursday.
The left-armer could be the one to sit out at Edgbaston if Pattinson is deemed a non-negotiable. That’s certainly the way a previous Starc adversary, Shane Warne, sees it, in a pre-series assessment, believing the 29-year-old should be kept on ice for the slope at Lord’s and the second Test to accommodate Pattinson.
“I think we are blessed at the moment with riches,” Cummins said.
“As long as I’ve been playing, Patto’s always been around and, unfortunately, hasn’t had great momentum the last few years. The four of us have been around. Sids has obviously played a lot and done really well over here.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen [Pattinson] live in a couple of years. You hear from guys playing him in state cricket, and who’ve faced him in the nets about how well he’s been bowling. When he’s on fire, he looks that class above. His Test record so far is brilliant. Unfortunately, hasn’t played for a few years. When he’s up and running, he looks as good as anyone else in the world I reckon.”