And perhaps due to the day’s commitments – and possibly uncertainty around the timing of Cricket Australia’s announcement (it fortuitously dropped at the end of proceedings) – Cummins was suitably vague on any points regarding squad matters.
“Yeah, I’ve spoken to him, poor Cam,” he said of Green, who will miss the summer’s Test series against India after opting to have back surgery. It looks like he’s going to miss a bit of cricket. He’s going to be a big loss if he does miss some games.”
Nineteen-year-old Sam Konstas, meanwhile, “was good” in that Sheffield Shield match and “scoring two hundreds in the same game is not easy”. But “he’s young – I don’t think you need to rush anything”.
Once this delicate dance is done, Cummins pointed out the oddity of this time of year, before the summer calendar is in full swing, but the press have started the hunt for news.
“It’s one of those ones where there’s not much happening day-to-day,” he said. “I do find it funny sometimes when I open up the paper and it’s like: ‘Travis Head firming as favourite to open the batting’. ‘Is he? Okay. Yeah, cool.’
“And then the next day it’ll be some other breaking news. ‘Is that true? I don’t think that’s true.’ It’s like every day something changes.”
This vacuum has recently been filled sans Cummins, who has not captained Australia’s one-day squad since winning the World Cup 12 months ago,.
He started back bowling a few weeks ago and spent time in the nets on this morning – before the photo shoot and mingling – in preparation for Australia’s latest tilt at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“I was thinking about it the other day,” he said. “It’s close to the only thing I haven’t really ticked off. I’ve not beaten India in a Test series yet. A few of the guys have, but I haven’t.”
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That fact alone, left in shakier hands, might be laden with pressure. Even a couple of years ago it might have felt an insurmountable prospect to Cummins, who had not yet disproven some of the external consternation about his suitability as captain by steering the team to the World Test championship, an Ashes defence in the UK and that ODI World Cup triumph against India, in India.
But he has well and truly relaxed into the role, and is now “probably more sure of myself in certain areas”.
”My whole life, you look up to the Australian captain and you know who it is, and you’re like ‘oh wow, they’re so accomplished, and they must have all their shit together’,” he said. “And then suddenly when you are captain you’re like ‘oh, I’m going to be that type of person’.
“In the initial phases, it was awesome that I had loads of support, and those who had to make the decision chose me and thought I was up for it before I even knew I was myself, I suppose. So it was like ‘okay, do I want to try and replicate other people, or do I just want to be myself?’ And I always thought I should be myself because it’s all I really know.”
Just like he is with this very fashionable crowd asking him for fashion advice. “I always go to my wife for some advice, and she always says to go bold,” he told them. “You only live once, so make a statement.”