'Wild Thing' Aaron Summers sent to test Pakistan - and Aussies ahead of the Pink Ball Test
As if batting against their own phalanx of fast bowlers armed with new pink balls under floodlights in the Adelaide Oval nets was not sufficiently daunting, Australia's Test batters took a double take when they arrived for training on Wednesday evening.
Sitting in the plush seats of the Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion in front of the team viewing room, with bowling spikes resting ominously on his knees, was Aaron Summers, who has established a reputation as one of the more frightening, least predictable young quicks on the domestic circuit.
Summers earned his fearsome reputation as Australia cricket's next 'Wild Thing' when he turned out for City Cyclones in the Northern Territory Strike League T20 competition, where last year he locked horns with incumbent Test opener David Warner.
The 23-year-old, who originally hailed from Perth, also remains on the Hobart Hurricanes list in the KFC BBL and played several Second XI matches for Tasmania before relocating to Adelaide this year in a bid to re-boot his career aspirations.
But when the young firebrand was in Hobart, there was reportedly a few of his squad mates who weren't overly keen to find themselves at the far end of a practice net when Summers had ball in hand, and one or two who point-blank refused to face him.
In part, that was due to Summers' raw pace, which had been clocked at around 150k/h, but largely it was because the aggressive right-armer was never altogether sure of where his missiles were directed.
As it turned out, any apprehension the Australia batters might have felt heading into the nets, two days out from the second Domain Series Test against Pakistan and as the sun dipped low in the Adelaide sky, proved needless.
For not only was Summers intent on bowling a fuller length to prove he can be a force in red-ball cricket as well as a white-ball attack weapon, he was also feeling the physical pinch having bowled a lengthy stint at his good friends in the Pakistan team earlier in the day.
Having played for Karachi Kings in this year's Pakistan Super League T20 tournament, Summers remains in close contact with his franchise teammates – and touring Test players – Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed.
And it was an exchange of text messages with Rizwan, who came within a couple of hefty blows of a maiden Test century in Brisbane last weekend, that led the Australian to help the visitors prepare for the pink-ball assignment that awaits in Adelaide's day-night Test starting tomorrow.
"I wasn't going to bowl at all, I didn't get asked and I didn’t put my hand up for net bowling," Summers told cricket.com.au at Adelaide Oval today.
"But I knew that both the sides were going to be here, and they would need net bowlers.
"So I messaged Muhammad Rizwan and asked him 'when you're in Adelaide, do you or any of the Karachi boys want to catch up for dinner while you're here'.
"I also asked them when they were training, and if they needed someone to come down and bowl to them.
"He said straight away, 'yes we're training on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday' – I had a (Premier Cricket T20) game in Adelaide on Thursday night, so I turned up on Wednesday.
"It was pink ball, daytime and I tried my best to keep it as full as I can, and to give them what they'd get against the new ball in a Test match.
"Hopefully nicking them up, hitting that five-metre length, and that was pretty much me the whole day."
By the time Australia's players assembled in the nets after 6pm, Summers had partially recovered and was ready to tear in once more.
But he found there was only two volunteers to occupy the net in which he was bowling – his former NT Strike League rival Warner (who played in the Darwin competition while serving suspension last year) and another left-hander, vice-captain Travis Head.
Before taking guard, Warner spent several minutes chatting with the young quick, inquiring as to how his shift to the mainland (where he is playing Second XI for SA and Premier Cricket for Woodville) was panning out, and discussing bowling strategies including Summers' planned around-the-wicket line.
"Then, throughout the net as well, he was asking what I was looking to do with the ball and was talking to me about the lengths I was bowling," Summers said.
"And he talked a bit about what works with the Aussie quicks, and what he's noticed from them as well.
"He was really helpful."
But while the quartet of Australia fast bowlers – Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson – unleashed against other members of the Australia top-order, Summers spent much of the session an onlooker, so under-utilised was the net in which he was operating.
Perhaps Australia coach Justin Langer, who was famously 'pinned' in the nets by a full toss delivered by original 'Wild Thing' Shaun Tait days before the pivotal fourth Ashes Test at Nottingham in 2005, was wary of the peril posed by an untameable quick.
Certainly, Summers was not asked to challenge the mettle or the mindset of Australia's top-ranked Test batters Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
And he was given a wide berth by his Hurricanes and Tasmania teammates and previous practice partners, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade.
As Paine noted at his pre-match media conference earlier today, he had found it difficult enough to handle the frontline bowlers who can habitually land the ball where they want it to go.
"It wasn't much fun," Paine said, of facing the rampant quicks as night fell.
"It does take a bit of time to adjust when the light is changing.
"We also had young South Australian leggie Lloyd Pope who was pretty difficult to pick under lights, which was good practice for (Pakistan wrist spinner) Yasir Shah.
"I thought he (Pope) was awesome last night, he took a few wickets."
Summers also felt he claimed a couple of scalps, although not by rattling the stumps or snaring an lbw.
"There could have been a few catches and a few nicks, but you never know in the nets – they could have been dropped, or missed a fielder by half a metre," he said.
What he didn't unleash was a bouncer – either in the prolonged spell he delivered at Pakistan's batters, or in his tussles with Warner and Head.
Summers conceded that even though his bowling speeds have probably slipped since he was going flat-out in the Strike League and then the PSL in Dubai and Pakistan, he consciously avoided engaging in a bumper barrage at training.
Which, in itself, suggests his reputation for lacking control and restraint is becoming redundant.
"Not really," Summers said after a moment's pause, when asked if he was tempted to get a few batters ducking and weaving in the nets.
"I have with other touring sides, but when I bowl to the Australians I try not to.
"And obviously with the Pakistani boys, I didn't really want to bump Babar.
"It's just common sense … but if I get told to, I will."
And as Australia and Pakistan prepare to finish their two-match Domain Test series in a day-night fixture – a format that Australia last played in February against Sri Lanka, and Pakistan have not encountered since October, 2017 – Summers is among the best qualified to answer one question.
Which of the batters he bowled to on Wednesday evening appeared most difficult to dislodge with the pink ball?
"Probably Babar," he said.
"Warner and Head are very good players, but I like coming around the wicket at left-handers.
"And I got to bowl to them when it was starting to get a bit dark, and the wicket we bowled on there had a little more in it than the one on which I bowled to the Pakistanis.
"But Babar looked pretty solid."
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/aar...t-pakistan-day-night-adelaide-oval/2019-11-28
