Cricket Australia (CA) Appoints Pat Cummins As New ODI Captain Following Aaron Finch's Retirement

On Tuesday, Cricket Australia (CA) announced that the Australia National Cricket Team Test captain Pat Cummins has been appointed as the new One Day International (ODI) skipper of the side following Aaron Finch’s retirement from the 50-over format.

Pat Cummins, who was handed the leadership responsibility of the Test team last year, will become the 27th men’s ODI captain of the Australia National Cricket Team.

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Also, Cummins will become the first speedster to lead Australia National Cricket Team in white-ball cricket and overall the first bowler since the late Shane Warne, who led the Aussies in 11 ODIs.

Cummins will start his stint as Australia’s new ODI captain in the three-match ODI series against England next month. While talking about his appointment, Pat Cummins:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed playing under Finchy and have learnt an enormous amount from his leadership. They are significant shoes to fill, although we are extremely fortunate to have a one-day squad with a huge amount of experience.”

Cricket Australia (CA) has not named any vice-captain for the ODIs, but Cummins recently said that if the deputy was appointed he would expect him to lead the side in certain series as playing every single series is not possible for him.

“You’d probably need to look at it a little bit differently to perhaps in the past with so much cricket going on, if I was offered it,” Cummins said before his appointment as captain was announced, as quoted by Cricket Australia.

“Just playing every single game isn’t realistic. We’ve got a handful of guys that play all three formats. In a year like this, T20 becomes the focus leading to a World Cup. Next year might be different with the one-day World Cup.

“But with 15 Test matches in the next six months, I don’t think you can expect the captain to play every game just because he is the captain.”

We look forward to him leading the one-day team to the 2023 World Cup – George Bailey on Pat Cummins

The chief selector of Cricket Australia George Bailey said that the star pacer Cummins has done an excellent job as Test captain. He added that he is looking forward to Cummins leading the Australian team in next year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

“Pat has done an excellent job since taking on the captaincy of the Test side and we look forward to him leading the one-day team to the 2023 World Cup in India,” said selection chief George Bailey.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia’s high-performance manager boss Oliver said that Cummins is an ideal choice to lead the side in ODIs.

“We are very fortunate to have a number of high-quality leaders and senior players across all formats,” Cricket Australia’s high-performance manager boss Oliver said.

“The board and selectors agree Pat is the ideal choice to lead the ODI team through the next period including the 2023 World Cup.”

Notably, star opener David Warner, who many felt was one of the candidates to take over the captaincy following Finch’s retirement, was not considered for captaincy given his lifetime leadership ban remains in place while CA’s Board considers a change to its code of conduct.

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