Australia's Cummins Lauds Strong Start to World Test Championship Campaign

Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, has voiced his satisfaction with his team's performance at the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Australia, a consistent contender in the WTC Finals, have secured victories in their first two Tests of this cycle. This follows their recent series-clinching win against the West Indies in Grenada.

Cummins celebrates a successful comeback after the Lord's Test © AFP

"Winning away from home isn't easy, so I'm really pumped with how we bounced back after Lord's (WTC Final)," Cummins stated after the Grenada Test. "It's been a good couple of weeks. With the pink ball coming up next week, it's good to secure the series before that. These matches always present unique challenges. It's a dream start really, two wins from two, sets us up well in the cycle, and we've played some really good cricket."

Cummins also lauded the experienced players in the squad, particularly highlighting Steve Smith's crucial half-century. Smith's innings played a pivotal role in rescuing the team from a precarious position of 28/3 in the second innings, with a lead of just 61 runs. "I think experience is a big factor; we talked about someone like Steve Smith coming back," Cummins noted. "He might not have played at Grenada, but he's played on lots of wickets where you've got to find a different way to score. It might not be big drives down the ground or whatever it is; you've got to scrap your way to a 50, and I think that comes through experience."

He further added, "With experience, you've seen a lot of the same problems before, you have a level of calmness that you can work your way through the problem. As a captain, it makes my life a lot easier knowing you've got lots of settled players there."

The 32-year-old captain also expressed his support for young opener Sam Konstas, who has struggled to make a significant impact in the series, scoring only 33 runs in four innings. "Every innings feels like the biggest thing in the world," he said on Konstas. "But I think the stat is, even the best batters in the world don't hit their average three out of four times or something like that. You're going to fail more often than you're going to succeed."

Cummins emphasized the importance of learning and improvement, stating, "As long as you're a quick learner, as long as you're moving well and giving yourself the best chance, just keep doubling down on that and judge yourself after a series or so, not innings by innings."

Meanwhile, West Indies' former captain Kraigg Brathwaite is also facing scrutiny due to his recent performance. With scores of 4, 4, 0, and 7 in his 100th Test, head coach Daren Sammy is considering his future in the next game. "He hasn't looked good this series, and in a team where you are searching for performances, you get very close to say 'okay, do we give somebody else a chance?'" Sammy said. "But we will really have a good discussion, myself, the selection group, and the captain himself, about that particular situation."

Sammy also acknowledged the need for better pitches in the Caribbean to foster the development of higher-quality Test batters. "It's hard to produce the quality of batters that we want to compete," he noted. "When you look at the surfaces that we play on, it's hard."

He elaborated, "If you look at all the averages, we barely have guys averaging 40-plus in (first-class) cricket. Those type of pitches, it doesn't allow you to come up technically sound, because you're really unsure. There's always doubt. And in an ideal world, you want to see our guys perform because of, not in spite of. It's something myself, the director of cricket, the franchise system, we've looked at very, very closely in trying to change that, trying to send the head groundsmen all over, trying to get the sort of wickets that allow batters to trust their techniques and stuff like that. And we also have some probably technical deficiencies that carry on from the Under-19, the youth level up to the national team."