SYDNEY: New South Wales (NSW) captain Moises Henriques believes it still might be too soon for pacer Pat Cummins to make a return in the longest format of the game.
Cummins has only played one Test in his career for Australia, which came way back in 2011, where he guided his team to a two-wicket victory over South Africa with figures of 6-79 in the second innings.
After more than five years of injury setbacks preventing his talent from blooming in the five-day formt, the 23-year-old was called up to replace the injured Mitchell Starc in the squad for the last two matches in the series in India.
A man-of-the-match performance on his return to first class cricket for the first time in six years last week was enough for selectors to give him the call, but his NSW captain was not so sure.
“I think Pat [Cummins] is a very special bowler,” said Henriques. “In terms of skill-wise and if you want someone to play cricket for Australia, I think he is your man.
“But whether he’s ready physically on the back of one Shield game, that’s a completely different kettle of fish. There’s a number of different factors when it comes into selecting guys to play for Australia in those sorts of conditions.”
Portuguese-born all-rounder Henriques made his Test debut against India in Chennai in 2013 and all four of his matches for his country were played on the continent.
But the 30-year-old, who is overlooked by the selectors in favour of uncapped Marcus Stoinis for the ongoing series in place of injured Mitchell Marsh, questioned Cummins selection.
“It was only one Shield game earlier that he got ruled out and apparently he wasn’t ready to play Shield cricket for NSW,” he said. “Now on the back of one Shield game he’s ready to play a Test series in India, that’s their call. Skill-wise, can he bowl at that level? 100 per cent he can. He’s a freak of nature.”
Former Test paceman Geoff Lawson, a bowling coach at NSW, was equally bemused at the decision to call up Cummins after five years.
“They’ve already broken Pat once last year by bringing him back too early,” Lawson told Fox Sports TV. “This is his third comeback from these stress fractures and they’ve picked him against the plan which has been intricately devised by a number of people, both at Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia.
“The plan was not for him to be playing in this Test series — it was for him to be playing Sheffield Shield cricket. From that point of view, it’s Cricket Australia going against its own plans — we’re just hoping it turns out well.”
The series is level at 1-1 with the penultimate test starting in Ranchi on Thursday. – MD
