Pat Cummins bristles at rotation question ahead of Aussie Test series
The Australian cricket captain has played down suggestions he may be rested for the Aussie summer.
Pat Cummins has played down suggestions that he and fellow paceman Mitchell Starc could be rested for the upcoming summer of cricket. Australia is gearing up for Test series against Pakistan and the West Indies and the idea has been floated that Australia's bowling stocks could be rotated on the back of a gruelling cricket year.
Across the past eight months, the Aussies have toured India, won the World Test Championships, retained the Ashes in the UK and won the ODI World Cup in India, with some of the World Cup winning side remaining overseas to play a T20 series against India. Rest, rotation and player workloads are often mentioned around international cricket, but the Aussie skipper is sick of hearing about it and says he has no intention of missing any red-ball cricket in the coming months.
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"You're always dealing with something as a bowler. When your hamstring starts to feel good, you suddenly feel pain somewhere else in your body and then you wake up the next day and it’s moved somewhere else in your body," Cummins said. "Realistically, the words 'rested and ‘rotated' gets thrown around a lot, but you never miss a Test if you’re fully fit.
'"While the last couple of years we might have been rested for the odd game, the bulk of work that we've been able to do (has helped). Potentially (it may happen), but if we’re fully fit, then we won’t be rested."
"The mind and the body know what time of year it is," Starc said. "It's either been a quick transition between white ball to red ball or coming off a winter tour to summer. It's nothing new to us, likewise for Smithy (Steve Smith) and Davey (David Warner) who have done it for a long time as well."
Both Starc and Cummins say they are ready to go for the upcoming Test series but will take some time off during the Big Bash League season to recuperate before returning to play in next year's Indian Premier League.
Cummins says Aussies not 100 percent in Indian T20 series
Cummins told reporters on Tuesday that cricketers are 'not robots' following the Aussies losing the opening two matches of their T20 series with India on the back of their 50-over World Cup triumph. A second-string India side won the opening two matches but Glenn Maxwell's heroics managed to claw the series back to 2-1 on Tuesday night.
With a busy home summer of cricket approaching, Cummins admitted some of the squad will be suffering from fatigue as they are only human. "They're humans, they're not robots," he told reporters. "Putting everything into a World Cup and then playing a couple of days later — I probably don't begrudge them if they're not at 100 per cent.
"These are still games for Australia and it's great that these tours do provide opportunities for some of the younger guys, or guys who might not be in the first eleven. I think these are important tours and you can get a lot out of them."
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