AUS vs ENG: Australia Planning To Rotate Pat Cummins' ODI Captaincy Stand-Ins- Report

Over the course of the upcoming year, Australia will want to diversify its ODI captaincy pool, and it’s likely that a number of different players will fill in for Pat Cummins as needed.

After Cummins took a break and Josh Hazlewood, who had just captained his first game in the format in Adelaide two days prior, was given a rest, Hazlewood, who had never led in a professional game but had served as an ODI vice-captain, assumed the position for the second game against England in Sydney.

“I’m standing in [for] this game, and hopefully it is a nice and seamless transition, Pat was happy to have a rest with the amount of cricket coming up. Just a nice little ‘you’ll captain next game’. It’s a wider leadership group, so just standing in for this game” Hazlewood said at the toss.

However, it is understood that Hazlewood will not always be the man to fill Cummins’ shoes ahead of next year’s ODI World Cup. While Cummins has opted out of the 2023 IPL to focus on being fresh for international duty, despite being named captain last month, he is expected to be rotated further in the one-day side.

“I don’t expect Pat Cummins to play every one-day game”: George Bailey

Hazlewood was chosen as a replacement, which put him ahead of other candidates who had recently captained Australia. Steven Smith filled in for Cummins during the most recent Ashes at home when he was forced to miss the Adelaide Test owing to being in close contact with Covid. Alex Carey filled in for an injured Aaron Finch on the West Indies trip last year, helping the team to a 2-1 series victory.