Pat Cummins levels a 127-year old record on his way to a 5-wicket haul at Gabba

Pat Cummins has leveled a 127-year old record of the former Australian captain George Giffon who was the first Australian captain ever to take a 5-wicket haul in his very first test match as captain. Cummins, while captaining in test cricket for the first time today, cleaned up England’s middle and lower order at Gabba on his way to a 5-wicket haul.

George Giffon, unlike Pat Cummins, was actually an allrounder who was more known for his middle order batting, but he used to bowl a lot of off spin as well in test match cricket and it was at MCG that he had registered a fifer in his first test as captain way back in 1894.

Talking about the fast bowlers taking test match fifer as captains, the last time it happened was in 1993 when Waqar Younis, as the captain of Pakistan, took a 7-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in Karachi.

The last time a specialist bowler took a fifer as captain in test cricket was a couple of years back in 2019, when Rashid Khan ran through Bangladesh’s batting order to drag Afghanistan to a memorable test match victory.

Pat Cummins was brilliant both as a captain and as a bowler at Gabba

It’s always a tough ask for the bowlers to lead in test cricket because of the workload they already carry. However if the captain is a spinner, it becomes slightly easier as spin bowling doesn’t put as much physical stress on the body as fast bowling does, which allows a spinner captain to stay more in sync with the team plans.

Last pacer before Pat Cummins as capt on debut – Waqar Younis 7/91 in 1993 v Zim at Karachi
Last captain Rashid Khan 5/55 in 2019#Ashes #Ashes2021

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 8, 2021

However, the instances of a fast bowler captaining a test team for a long time have been very, very rare in the history of the game and that’s what made the effort of Pat Cummins at Gabba that much more commendable.

Not only did Cummins have to marshal his troops on a big occasion, he had to made sure he lived up to the expectations with his own bowling performance on a helpful surface and he did an excellent job on both fronts.