theguardian.com
Captain Pat Cummins is in rare air. Can his Ashes champions go around again? | Geoff Lemon
He’s achieved an Ashes feat that few other captains have. But he’s still missing an outright win in England
*
Starc breaks England hearts again as Australia retain the Ashes in tense third Test
While it took longer than expected on the fifth day in Adelaide, eventually it was done. A series won, the Ashes retained for another year and a half until they next go up for grabs in England. For Pat Cummins, this makes three consecutive Ashes series captained without giving up the urn. The feat leaves him in sparse but fine company: the others to do it are Joe Darling, Don Bradman, Richie Benaud, Mike Brearley, Allan Border and Mark Taylor.
It made things neater that Steve Smith missed this third Test, having captained the first two wins in Cummins’ absence, so that it didn’t feel like the full-time captain was swooping in to hoover up the stand-in’s lunch. Those situations can be odd, like Adam Gilchrist filling in to lead what was very much Ricky Ponting’s team, captaining two wins in India in 2004 before Ponting returned from injury after the series was decided. Who gets credit for the win? Continue reading...
