Malcolm Knox has penned a very good column looking into how much Australia will miss Cummins in the early Ashes exchanges.
Based on when and how he got his overwhelmingly top order wickets against India last summer, the fair conclusion is that he will leave a big hole.
Knox writes:
Of Cummins’s 25 wickets, only two were tailenders. He dismissed India’s top scorer four times in nine innings, and put paid to India’s biggest partnership three times.
In another word: quality. “The Postman” delivered (actually, better than the post). The first two matches of last summer’s series perhaps best showed Cummins’s value through the colour of contrast. In Perth, despite having claimed Pant and Reddy, India’s top two scorers, in the first innings, Cummins was off his game. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli pounced, and India won. That second innings in Perth was the only time in the series Cummins did not bowl well, and it meant curtains for Australia.