Dubai: As Australia and England get ready to lock horns in the upcoming Ashes series, pacer Pat Cummins revisited the series against England in 2015, saying he had not developed into a proper bowler back then.
“I feel like it was hardly me. I think I had only played a couple of first-class games, I might have played my first first-class game in about three or four years on that tour. Totally different action, was still struggling with my body trying to bowl back-to-back days, trying to bowl 20 overs in a day,” International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Cummins as saying.
“It was more just absolute excitement at being on that tour. I just remember running the drinks in an Ashes series, I remember thinking ‘it doesn’t get much better than this’. So I just hope that this time playing, it’s a bit different,” he added.
Cummins made a late entry into Australia’s Ashes squad in 2015 as he came in as a replacement for Ryan Harris.
The pacer has shown remarkable growth as he is currently positioned at the top spot in the ICC Test bowler rankings. Cummins had finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2017/18 Ashes series.
The bowler went on to take 50 wickets in the next three series, including a ten-wicket haul against Sri Lanka. In Australia, Test matches are played used Kookaburra ball and how he hopes of creating a similar impact with Dukes ball in England.
“I’m pumped to have a Dukes ball that hopefully swings around a bit more for me and hopefully a batsman leaves a ball every now and then. Probably the way it pans out in 80 overs is slightly different to a Kookaburra, but the way you actually bowl, the basics are still there. I’m sure I’ll pick up a couple of things in the next few weeks though,” Cummins said.
Australia now has a solid Test lineup as both David Warner and Steve Smith have made a return to the side after facing one year ban for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in 2018 against South Africa.
“When you look at our Test side from the home series last year, we’ve basically got the same squad. We haven’t lost anyone from memory, and they’re much the same,” Cummins said.
“They’ve got a couple of guys coming in, their batting order’s going to look slightly different, but probably similar to both sides is that our white-ball teams are quite different to our red-ball team. No matter who’s playing, it’s always fiery, it’s intense, it’s really good cricket. So I can’t wait,” he added.
Australia takes on England in the Ashes beginning August 1.
