ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024 Men's captain of the year: It's that man Cummins
Two in a row for the unstoppable Australian
Pat Cummins
Tests: P9 W6 L2 D1
ODIs: P2 W1 L1
It was hard for Cummins' standing to be any higher after the zenith of 2023. By comparison, 2024 was a pretty mediocre year in terms of raw achievement for Cummins and Australia. But such is his standing in the game, he remains the captain all teams wish they had.
Australia only won two Test series in 2024. They drew a home series against West Indies and lost two home Tests in a row for the first time since 2016. The last two times that happened in Australia, the chairman of selectors resigned and there was significant upheaval within the team.
This is where Cummins' leadership elevates him above the rest. His calm and consistent messaging both publicly and privately ensured Australia's team stayed the course, in spite of intense media criticism, on their way to winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2015.
Nathan McSweeney, one of Australia's debutants in that series and an accomplished domestic captain himself, having led Brisbane Heat to a BBL title and captained Australia A and South Australia, was amazed at how level-headed Cummins remained both internally and externally after the loss in Perth.
Under Cummins, Australia hold every Test trophy available, as well as the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup. In terms of win-loss ratio, Cummins is now the most successful Test captain since 2010 (among those with ten or more Tests as captain) and has slipped into the top ten most successful of all time.
Cummins once again elevated his own game whenever Australia were under pressure. He produced four of his best Test batting performances in 2024, in part due to having had corrective eye surgery. But even before that, he posted his highest Test score, 64 not out when Australia were in a hole against the West Indies at the Gabba and 32 not out in a nervy fourth-innings chase against New Zealand in Christchurch. He also produced another clutch performance with the bat in one of two ODIs for the calendar year, making 32 not out at the MCG against Pakistan. He saved his best until last, with 49 and 41 in Melbourne to go with three wickets in each innings to somehow rip Player of the Match off Jasprit Bumrah and give Australia a crucial 2-1 series lead over India.
Such is the quality of his leadership, one wonders how Australia might have fared in the T20 World Cup had he taken the reins instead of Mitchell Marsh. Cummins also led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL final in 2024, proving his captaincy skills stand up across formats, leagues and cultures.
Key moment
The MCG had been the turning point in India's two previous Border-Gavaskar series wins down under. It could have been again after Australia had bossed large portions of the rain-affected Brisbane Test, but having been a bowler down, Cummins walked away weary and without a series lead to show for his efforts. Sam Konstas, Steve Smith and Australia's batters set the tone in Melbourne but Cummins played his part. His 49 in a century stand with Smith turned 299 for 6 into 474 and put 28.4 overs into Bumrah. He then struck twice with the new ball to help set up a sizeable first-innings lead. Bumrah again threatened to pull off a miracle for India and Cummins again held firm with the bat, making a second-innings contribution to ensure Australia had 339 runs to defend. There were criticisms of his conservative declaration. But it proved spot on. He delivered an unplayable spell first up on the final day to again knock over Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply for the second time in the match. Later in the day, when Yashasvi Jaiswal stood between certain victory and another energy-sapping draw, Cummins bent his back on a slowing surface to bounce him out and put Australia on course to regaining the only Test trophy not in their keeping.
The numbers
10 The number of Test series Australia have won or drawn under Cummins. They have only lost one, in India in 2023.
4 The number of 30-plus scores Cummins made in Tests in 2024, the most in any year of his career.
44.7 Cummins' bowling strike rate in Tests in 2024, when he took 37 wickets. It was a lower strike rate than 2023.
What they said
"He's very measured and understands the game, and he's just really, really well rounded off the field. He's really enjoyable to be around; he creates a really good environment that's very inclusive, that's very enjoyable, that's very relaxed."- Travis Head, Australia's Test vice-captain
The closest contender
Rohit Sharma
Rohit led his side to the T20 World Cup title in the USA and the Caribbean in June, India's first since 2007 and their first global trophy in any format since the 2013 Champions Trophy. He was also in charge when they won the Test series against England at home 4-1.
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
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