Mark Waugh's brutal claim about Pat Cummins amid Ashes captaincy furore

Aussie cricket great Mark Waugh has stopped short of saying Pat Cummins should step down as Test captain, but declared the skipper looks 'tired' and 'frazzled'. Cummins copped a hammering during the fourth Ashes Test, with a plethora of cricket greats criticising his tactics and captaincy.

Victorian cricket great Darren Berry sensationally declared that Cummins will resign as captain after the Ashes, and Waugh has now added fuel to the fire. Speaking to Fox Sports, Waugh said the captaincy is taking too big a toll on Cummins physically and mentally.

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“I think in India we saw Pat struggle in a couple of Test matches, and then in this series, I think he struggled in nearly every Test match,” Waugh said. “We’ve got a bit lucky leading this series 2-1. We probably should have lost [the first Test at] Edgbaston and we probably would have lost Old Trafford - so that makes it 3-1 if things go normally.

“I just think he’s looked tired. He’s looked frazzled. It’s affecting his bowling, his captaincy, it’s affecting his fielding. He dropped catches and you don’t want that from potentially the best cricketer in your team.

“So I think moving forward they’re going to have to think long and hard about this. Is Pat Cummins the right man for the long-term captaincy? Because when it’s tough I don’t think he is. I think he’s OK when it’s easy and he doesn’t have to think too much, but it’s a real question mark.”

Fast bowling great Glenn McGrath said Cummins looked 'jaded' as he returned figures of 1-129 off 23 overs in the fourth Test - the worst performance of his career. Cummins' field placements and bowling tactics were questioned on a number of occasions as England plundered 592 in their first innings, before the Aussies were saved by the rain and retained the urn with a lucky draw.

“Pat Cummins just looks a little bit tired and jaded to me, and that was always a risk of having a fast bowler as captain,” McGrath said on BBC. “It’s one of those things - it’s about momentum, it’s about energy. England’s got the momentum now, and it’s always hard to steal it back off the team that has it, especially when they’re playing well.”

Pat Cummins under cloud for fifth Ashes Test

Former Test captain Tim Paine suggested the Aussies might need to make a tough call and leave Cummins out of the fifth Test. The Aussies can secure their first series victory in England since 2001 with a win, but a loss would see England draw the series 2-2.

“What worries me, not just about Pat but also with ‘Starcy’ (Mitchell Starc) going into the fifth Test, is they both look really tired," Paine said on SEN radio.

“Not just looking at them with their body language, I thought the speeds of their bowling (were an issue). When Patty is bowling low 130s (km/h), I think that’s a concern. Starcy had something wrong with his shoulder from diving, there was talk he might have had a sore hamstring.

“The next Test match is so crucial, you would want both of those fit. When it’s starting on Thursday, it is a concern. Pat is going to play his sixth Test in six or seven weeks which is a huge workload just for a bowler alone, but then you put on top of that the mental stress and fatigue of captaining a side in a big series and the scrutiny he’s under every day. It’s probably something he hasn’t had to deal with so far in his Test career."

Aussie coach Andrew McDonald came to Cummins' defence on Tuesday, saying: "If we're living and dying in the world of tactics only, then I think it's fair and reasonable to critique some of the execution and tactics that we implemented.

"But to go as far as suggesting that the captain resign post-series I think is a bit far fetched. There are opinions that we respect and opinions that we don't."

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