Cricket New South Wales on Wednesday (February 10) named ace fast bowler Pat Cummins as the captain for the Marsh One-Day Cup, scheduled to start on February 15.
It will be an opportunity for Cummins to develop leadership and captaincy skills. The 27-year-old has been the deputy to Australian Test skipper Tim Paine for nearly last three years.
See Also: Michael Clarke wants Pat Cummins to lead Australia in all the three formats
Cummins, who will take charge of the Australian Test team when the 36-year-old Paine decides to call it a day, is excited about his new role.
"This opportunity is a huge one to actually give it a crack," Cummins told reporters today in Sydney, as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"It's been Under-16s since I've had a decent crack at it. I'm just keen to first of all see if I'm any good, or hopeless. If I enjoy it, see how it goes and then (I'm) not looking too much further ahead than these few games.
"I think like batting and bowling, captaining can be a skill. You've got to practice. You've got to try and find your own method and I think the best (way to do that) is by giving it a crack," he added.
Former leg-spinner Richie Benaud was the last bowler to captain Australia in Test cricket in the 1960s.
Provided the physical demands of fast bowling, pacers are usually not considered for captaincy but Cummins reckons quicks can also be skippers.
"I don't think just because you're automatically a bowler or a wicketkeeper rules you out of captaincy," he said.
"No doubt there are a few more challenges about being a bowler but also it brings some opportunities.
"You hope that our skill is trying to get wickets as a bowler and that's a lot of the time what you're trying to do as a captain out in the field.
"Managing the workload, that's something I'm going to have to see how it goes in these next few games and get a taste of it that way, but I'm not too sure about longer-form stuff."
Cummins has played under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith, Paine at the highest level and he will be taking something from all his previous skippers.
"Steve Waugh was over there (with the Australian camp) in the (2019) Ashes. I loved how simple he kept things. We all love cricket and talk about cricket and really quickly you try to get into the minutiae of it, whereas I love how he just takes a step back and keeps it simple,” he said.
"Ricky Ponting, just his love of the game and how he played 160-odd Tests and still just looked like he was up for every moment and loves it. Painey, I love how he manages people. Steve (Smith) is always thinking about the game. Even Clarkey (Michael Clarke), I felt a million bucks when he used to give me the ball in my debut game.
"You pick out little bits from each captain but the main thing for me (is) you want to have great relationships, have a bit of fun and always try and think of things. Cricket gets boring. You lose your creativity if you think about things too much," he concluded.
(Inputs from cricket.com.au)
