"We’ll play this World Cup and then assess it after that" - Pat Cummins on his ODI future
Australian captain Pat Cummins has opened up about his future in one-day international cricket. The right-arm speedster revealed that he will take stock of his ODI future after the 2023 World Cup and hinted at different players stepping up as captains in the matches leading up to the mega tournament.
Since succeeding Aaron Finch as Australia's ODI captain last November, Cummins has led them only once in the format. With the 30-year-old also serving as Test captain, he could hand over the reins of the one-day team to Mitchell Marsh, who has replaced Finch as T20I skipper.
When asked about his ODI future, Cummins remarked that he hasn't thought about it yet and that Australia have quite a few candidates to serve as makeshift captains.
As quoted by Fox Sports, he elaborated:
"I haven‘t thought about it too much to be honest. We’ll play this World Cup and then assess it after that. The captaincy for the ODIs has been kind of shared around a little bit. Smithy‘s done a couple, Joshy Hazlewood’s done one, Mitchy’s there, Alex Carey’s there as well, so I think we’ll get over there, have a look at that."
"The good thing is we’ve got a few options. (Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he’s doing the T20s as well. I wouldn’t be surprised with the number of ODIs before the World Cup whether some guys might miss a game as well. If Mitchy misses one, someone else might step up," Pat Cummins added.
The New South Wales bowler missed the three-match ODI series against India earlier this year due to his mother's demise. Smith, who also captained in the final two Tests, took charge of the team in ODIs.
"It's not too bad" - Pat Cummins on his wrist injury
Speaking of his wrist injury suffered during the 2023 Ashes series, Cummins highlighted that it's not too severe and is confident of featuring in the World Cup. He added:
"It’s not too bad. I’ll head over to South Africa at the back-end of that leg, but we’re probably looking more at those one-dayers ahead of the World Cup. It shouldn’t be too bad. Another few weeks and it’ll be right. I’ll keep it in a brace for a few weeks and it’ll be fine."
Australia's tour of South Africa starts on August 30, with the T20I series.