Cummins' South Africa memories: Whirlwind debut to touring captain

South Africa is a place which holds mixed memories for Pat Cummins.

The Aussie captain chatted with SEN Cricket's Bharat Sundaresan ahead of the highly-anticipated Test tour in October which sees the Australian Test team face the Proteas in an away series for the first time since the infamous Sandpapergate.

Cummins reminisced on his first Test in Johannesburg in 2011 at just 18 years old, and the evolution of himself as a player to now as Test Captain.

In what has become one of Australia’s most memorable debuts in recent history, Cummins took seven wickets, including a second innings six wicket haul.

If that was not memorable enough, Cummins also hit the winning runs on what capped off an almighty debut.

“It's funny, that was 15 years ago, I feel like I remember more from that tour than almost any other tour I've been on, because it was like so formative and it was my first tour,” he said.

“Cricket aside, I just remember everything feeling so new and like oh this is cool.

“I get my own room, I get a buffet breakfast every morning, I get to order my own dinner, this is awesome.”

Sundaresan asked Cummins if it felt surreal being back after long sabbaticals and interruptions between his earliest tours and now.

“I always find when you stay in the same hotel and you're like, 'Oh, I remember staying in this hotel or doing this drive and it was 15 years ago, it doesn't feel that long ago,” he said.

Although Cummins has played some of his best cricket in South Africa, he has failed in playing a significant quantity of cricket there largely due to injury, only managing to muster up two Test series and five total matches.

Now 15 years on, Pat Cummins is an accomplished Australian Test Captain and was the number one ranked Test bowler for over four years.

In 2011, he was the player absorbing all he could, now as the present tour approaches, he finds himself in an important role to instill and lead.

“You feel like you're the youngest guy on the team, you're soaking everything in, whereas now it's, you are the captain and you're supposed to know most things,” he said.

“So, it is a bit of a different role, but it'll be great, it's a place I love touring.”

Further, Cummins spoke to Sundaresan about what he enjoys most about being Australia’s Test skipper.

“I enjoyed as a team going and winning a big series, that was the thing that I really enjoyed at the start and I still definitely enjoy that,” he said.

“But now I enjoy the problem solving of coming up against new opponents, tough conditions, and say going to somewhere like India for five tests and instead of being daunted by a challenge of how hard it is to win over there, I get excited about, alright, what can we do differently or how can we give ourselves the best chance to win.”

The upcoming Test series against South Africa provides for another opportunity for Cummins to inspire instead of being daunted by the Proteas.

However, Cummins noted to Sundaresan that although he is the Captain, he is not an experienced expert on South African conditions.

“I feel like I haven't played enough to really know,” he said.

“I know there's talk Durban can be a little bit slower than some of the traditional wickets, I think Port Elizabeth has a drop in wicket now, Cape Town, I don't really know.”

“It's similar to going to some of the other test nations that you don't play as often, you don't quite know.”

Retrospectively speaking Cummins has, in a small sample size, a visitor’s resume that cannot be taken lightly.

In 2018, controversy aside, Cummins claimed 22 wickets at an average of 21.45 within a year of his major return from injury which saw him on the outer of Australian cricket for over six years.

Cummins’ is aware that South Africa are a quality Test cricketing outfit, and have enjoyed significant success in recent years, but is excited to compete with the world’s best Test team.

“They've always got a really strong team … they beat us last year in the World Test Championship,” Cummins said

Opportunities to prove yourself on South African soil and win a pivotal away Test series are scarce.

“You don't get the chance that often, like this might be the last time many of us (Veteran Australian Test Cricketers) get in our career, so you have got to make the most of it,” he said.

It is clear that Cummins whilst not being as familiar with conditions, is still significantly capable of bowling incredibly well in South Africa, and playing a fundamental role in potential Aussie success in the upcoming series starting October 9.

You can listen to the entire tour LIVE on SEN and the SEN app.