Australia's handling of Pat Cummins versus Pakistan's mismanagement of Mohammad Zahid

[Abdullah719]

AS Pat Cummins prepares for a stunning return to Test cricket a long lost voice over the border in Pakistan will lament “that could have been me.’’

Fast bowler Mohammad Zahid was one of the fastest bowlers of the modern era but after taking 11 wickets on his Test debut played just five Tests in five years, broke down with a back injury and was never heard of again.

Had he been Australian, Zahid would probably have been cuddled and cajoled back to full fitness like Cummins.

But in Pakistan, where it’s more every man for himself, time and patience just ran out.

Australia’s cricketers have many whinges about Cricket Australia – some of them genuine – but they should be forever grateful about the system which nurtures them.

No other country could have produced the Cummins story.

Since his lone Test match against South Africa when he took seven wickets at their beloved Johannesburg, Cummins has sustained a string of injuries which has meant he has barely been seen in red ball cricket.

During that time, he has been paid a seven-figure total in injury payments and, for a while, one commentator used to quip he was Australia’s highest paid university student.

But the patience has been worth it, because he is so good.

Cummins’ pace and fire is outstanding and, just to enhance the package, there are plenty of people who will tell you they believe he is the nicest cricketer they have met.

If it all clicks – and that’s no certainty – Cummins could become a new poster boy of Australian cricket. If he breaks down again Australia will simply keep trying.

Cummins has the debonair charm of Brett Lee but a spoonful of extra potency, because his work is delivered from a greater height which ensures extra bounce and menace.

All this is possible because modern cricketers are looked after far better than they used to be.

Fast bowling great Dennis Lillee recently released a book in which he revealed he was so exasperated at having to pay for his own physio appointments, he got Richie Benaud to draft a letter to the Australian Cricket Board asking for help.

“It’s hard for people of this era to remember how much it was an amateur game, and it had been for 100 years,” Lillee said recently.

“You played and it was just purely for the love of the game – a lot of sacrifices had to be made, including those things like going and organising your own physio and stuff like that because they didn’t have physios at the ground, it was just a rubber.’’

Playing Cummins against India on Thursday may seem a gamble, but the time has come to see what he’s got.

Australia’s selectors wanted to unleash him for half a Shield game at the Gabba for NSW against Queensland this season, before Doug Bollinger stepped in to replace Mitchell Starc.

It is time to tear off the cotton wool and see what lies beneath.

Hopefully for Australia that will be the same bowler who carved up South Africa in their own backyard.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...k=e9824ae6b7c988f0b6d5d7fc9bfd515c-1489346538

 

[ExpressPacer]

Its tragic but even Cummins is a mere shadow of his former self. We'll see how good he can do in the Tests. Like some thread recently mentioned, CA are still showing their ineptness by bringing him on so early. The perfect time for a fast bowler like him to be brought back was the Ashes.

Anyway, we can't blame PCB too much. Yes, he wasn't handled properly but this is the best you get and sometimes you have to use your own brain too. Express bowlers usually do have to go through such times. De Lange, Cummins and Pattinson all performed greatly on their debuts but couldn't manage to play after that. Test cricket demands athletes, not fragile glass works. A cricket board can only do so much. Look at the amount of work Akhtar, Johnson, etc did on themselves.

 

[Abdullah719]

Its tragic but even Cummins is a mere shadow of his former self. We'll see how good he can do in the Tests. Like some thread recently mentioned, CA are still showing their ineptness by bringing him on so early. The perfect time for a fast bowler like him to be brought back was the Ashes.

Anyway, we can't blame PCB too much. Yes, he wasn't handled properly but this is the best you get and sometimes you have to use your own brain too. Express bowlers usually do have to go through such times. De Lange, Cummins and Pattinson all performed greatly on their debuts but couldn't manage to play after that. Test cricket demands athletes, not fragile glass works. A cricket board can only do so much. Look at the amount of work Akhtar, Johnson, etc did on themselves.

How so? 18 wickets in 10 ODIs since his return in December and an 8-fer in his first FC game for years.


I have little knowledge of the Mohammad Zahid episode but from what I've heard, he was made to bowl while struggling with an injury and that caused a severe stress-fracture.

Plus, the track record of recent injured players such as Umar Gul and Junaid Khan after their injury and the Haris Sohail episode all seem to suggest that incompetency is rife.

 

[Junaids]

It is Pat Cummins' huge misfortune that he is from New South Wales, where all sports science dogma is dominated by Rugby League and its production line of 120 kg giants.

In my opinion his body is at least 15 kg too heavy for his frame. And I'm a doctor.

And this has had the same flow on consequences as it did with Craig McDermott and James Pattinson. Stress fractures and muscular damage for a start, followed by a loss of his side-on action and a tendency to fall away in his delivery stride.

He needed to do very little physical work apart from bowling and running. And being shielded from 20 and 50 over cricket until he was at least 24 years old.

But too much gym work and too much T20 and 50 overs cricket has ruined both his body and his action.

He has a rare gift, and bad sports science has put it in great danger.

 

[Hasan123]

The injuries of Pattinson and Cummins is genuinely sad. I hope both players remain injury free. Cricket needs as many top bowlers as possible.

Cummins does need to play 1st class cricket eventually, let's see how he does. Personally I would have waited till Australias home summer.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Its tragic but even Cummins is a mere shadow of his former self. We'll see how good he can do in the Tests. Like some thread recently mentioned, CA are still showing their ineptness by bringing him on so early. The perfect time for a fast bowler like him to be brought back was the Ashes.

Anyway, we can't blame PCB too much. Yes, he wasn't handled properly but this is the best you get and sometimes you have to use your own brain too. Express bowlers usually do have to go through such times. De Lange, Cummins and Pattinson all performed greatly on their debuts but couldn't manage to play after that. Test cricket demands athletes, not fragile glass works. A cricket board can only do so much. Look at the amount of work Akhtar, Johnson, etc did on themselves.

Cummins has improved not regressed.

 

[Hasan123]

Cummins has improved not regressed.

What has he improved on and what about his pace?

 

[Chief Destroyer]

What has he improved on and what about his pace?

His action has tightened up. He's not snapping and separating his torso away from his base like he used to. Relying more on the front leg brace and then following through in a linear fashion. There's still a bit of a jerk but not as straining as his previous action. Still got the pace.

 

[volcyz]

Don't see Cummins lasting very long, his action just looks like it's still putting tons of strains on his body.

 

[Junaids]

His action has tightened up. He's not snapping and separating his torso away from his base like he used to. Relying more on the front leg brace and then following through in a linear fashion. There's still a bit of a jerk but not as straining as his previous action. Still got the pace.

I agree - and I set up the other thread because I think he's a once in a generation talent.

But in my opinion he should ideally weigh around 75 kg (yes, I know he is a fraction over 6 foot 2 tall). But he weighs 90 kg, and that puts immense pressure on his body as he bowls.

Richard Hadlee was rapid until around 1983, and although he is only 1 inch shorter, her was fully 17 kg lighter.

Michael Holding was at least as quick as Pat Cummins, was over an inch taller, and was 13 kg lighter than Cummins.

Imran Khan - the real one - was 2 inches shorter, but 16 kg lighter than Cummins.

This is the underlying cause of the recurrent injury woes of Cummins (90 kg), Pattinson (86 kg) and Starc (92 kg).

None of them has any fat on their body at all.

But lousy sports science based on irrelevant Rugby League parameters has left them all at least 15 kg overweight. And overweight with solid muscle.