Pat Cummins Statement After Becoming Captain: Newly appointed Australia captain Pat Cummins on Friday indicated that his style of leading the team may be different from that of his previous captains, adding That he will rely on vice-captain Steve Smith for strategic advice.
Cummins will be the first fast bowler to lead the Australian Test team on a full-time basis on Friday. Smith has been made the vice-captain with him. Cummins will replace Tim Paine, who stepped down as captain last week after a four-year-old case of sending obscene messages to a female colleague was exposed again.
Cummins said, "It (the way of captaincy) may look a bit different from outside. Probably from other captains of the past. Not many things are known about the bowling captain, so I was determined from the beginning that if I am the captain, then I should have a vice captain like Steve."
He added, "There will also be times on the field when I will hand over the responsibility to Steve Smith and you will see Steve doing the fielding on the field and maybe even making changes to the bowling, which will be little more than a vice-captaincy. I really want something like this."
Pat added, "There will also be times when I will be out of the crease, in the middle of bowling spells on a hot day, I will need advice from people for strategy and experience, so that is one of the big reasons why I choose Steve Smith as the vice-captain. I wanted to."