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Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday (18 October) announced the appointment of Pat Cummins as the national team’s new ODI captain. Cummins becomes Australia’s 27th ODI captain (Men). Notably, the post was vacant since Aaron Finch announced his retirement from ODI cricket. Cummins now has captaincy in Test cricket and ODI cricket. Meanwhile, Aaron Finch will continue to lead the side in T20Is.
There were a few names in consideration, but Cummins came as the frontrunner with his impressive portfolio. Former captain Steve Smith, David Warner, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, and Mitchell Marsh were the other names in consideration. While Warner was not able to be considered given his lifetime leadership ban remains in place, the other players did not have much to offer.
Australia's 27th men's ODI captain, Cummins will become the first fast bowler to lead a men's team in white-ball cricket, while he is the first bowler since the late Shane Warne filled in for 11 ODIs in the late nineties. CA has not named a vice-captain as of now, but Cummins expects the board to name someone reliable on whom the pacer can lean significantly to lead for certain series.
"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 was announced.
“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."
Meanwhile, George Bailey is looking forward to seeing Cummins leading the team in ODIs after his successful Test exploits. “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 on Cummins’ appointment.