England villain\u2019s big admission over ugly Ashes act<\/a><\/p>\nBangladesh suffer EPIC choke | 00:31<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably doesn\u2019t need as much (preparation) as Josh (Hazlewood) or (Mitchell) Starc. <\/p>\n
\u201cThings can turn around pretty quickly. We\u2019ll see where everything lands with him. He\u2019s obviously got a few things to tick off and get into his bowling. He\u2019s in good spirits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team\u2019s obviously better with him in it, for sure. Hopefully, he can get right. If he plays three Tests or five Tests or two Tests, as many as we can get out of him, it\u2019s the best thing for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cummins has an exceptional record in home Tests, taking 301 scalps at 19.92 over the last eight years.<\/p>\n
However, Smith pointed out the Test side has a more than capable replacement in Scott Boland, who boasts an equally-impressive record on Australian soil \u2014 49 wickets at 12.63 across nine matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty good replacement in Scott Boland, who I think is arguably one of the best bowlers in the world,\u201d Smith continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis record in Australia is outrageous. We\u2019re good there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it disrupts too much. We\u2019re lucky to have Scotty there, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith will lead Australia if Cummins is unavailable at any stage during the Ashes, having already replaced the New South Welshman as Test skipper on six occasions since his appointment in late 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve stood in (for Cummins) a couple of times over the last few years, it\u2019s nothing out of the ordinary,\u201d Smith declared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how the team operates \u2026 it\u2019ll just be a seamless sort of transition if that comes around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve chilled out a lot over the last four years. I\u2019m a bit more relaxed out in the middle and maybe not as cranky at times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pat Cummins\u2019 chances of featuring in next month\u2019s Ashes series opener appear to be close to zero after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[6074,91335,1724,64,63,689,15913,61527,740,49534,138393,1208,138390,2057,17071,2105,138392,19972,2022,138396,138394,3583,677,1948,668,1934,38710,1183,18780,12540,85,1210,18784,3586,138395,138391],"class_list":["post-229086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-africa","tag-andrew-mcdonald","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-coach","tag-australian-soil","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-world-cup","tag-cricketing-history","tag-england","tag-equally-impressive-record","tag-europe","tag-gareth-copley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-india-odi-t20i-series-live","tag-injury-update","tag-london","tag-lower-back-complaint","tag-marnus-konstas","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-pat-cummins","tag-press-conference","tag-scott-boland","tag-series-opener","tag-south-africa","tag-southern-africa","tag-southern-asia","tag-sports","tag-sri-lanka","tag-steven-smith","tag-united-kingdom","tag-was-i-doing","tag-worst-chokes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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