When does a player go from being good to great? There are various subjective parameters that are used to anoint a player as great, but a few objective ones as well.
One such criteria is whether the player has achieved pretty much everything that can be accomplished. In modern cricket and its fractured landscape that cuts across three formats and its offshoots, there are very few common threads that connect the realms. Those who manage to tie it all together are champions in the truest sense. Like Pat Cummins.
The Australian all-rounder and captain has done what only a couple of players in modern cricket have managed to do – win everything there is to win.
Up until recently, India great Mahendra Singh Dhoni was heralded as the only captain who had won every single major trophy in top-grade cricket. Now Cummins, too, can be considered the undisputed champion of cricket.
Let’s take a look at his trophy cabinet. There is the 2015 ODI World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup title as a player. The World Test Championship in 2023 as captain, followed by the pièce-de-la-resistance – the ODI World Cup title after defeating India in their backyard.
In between, he led the way as Australia won and then retained the Ashes for four consecutive series starting from 2017. And now, he has done what no Aussie skipper had managed to do in a decade – defeat India in a Test series. With the series win over India, which was completed in style in Sydney last Sunday, Australia now hold the trophy for every single bilateral Test series they take part in.
This is unprecedented success across the board and, unlike Dhoni, Cummins can proudly call himself an all-format specialist with a particular emphasis on Test cricket.
Cummins played a particularly significant role in his team’s two latest major successes. In the ODI World Cup in India, the Aussies were staring at the possibility of an early exit from the tournament when their top order got blown away by Afghanistan in Mumbai. Chasing 292, the Aussies were down in the dumps at 91-7, with Glenn Maxwell batting alongside Cummins, the last recognised batsman.
Australia needed one of the players to hold one end up and allow the other to play freely. Cummins did that, blocking 68 balls for just 12 runs as Maxwell played the greatest innings in World Cup, and possibly ODI, history as he smashed 201 not out from just 128 balls, battling extreme cramps and playing wild sweeps and scoops off just one working leg. Australia won, miraculously, and soon found themselves in the final.
There, they faced an India team that brought together the most in-form and high-calibre playing XI in white-ball cricket in modern history. The World Cup trophy was practically theirs for the taking.
But Cummins had other plans. On an Ahmedabad wicket that was particularly dry, ostensibly to aid India, Cummins took the brave call of bowling first against a red-hot Indian batting line up.
With a clever use of slower bouncers and off cutters by all their frontline pacers, Australia strangled India’s batting, with Cummins landing the decisive blow by castling Virat Kohli with a cutter. India scored a below-par 240, and the job was completed by a belligerent ton from Travis Head – another constant in Australia’s major successes in recent times.
Cummins had more tricks up his sleeve. In the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia got stunned by a rampant Jasprit Bumrah in the first Test in Perth. But they did not panic.
They were admittedly helped by the forced return of Rohit Sharma as India captain. Rohit’s poor form with bat and as a leader, along with that of Kohli, greatly impeded India’s progress, while Cummins plotted his team’s comeback and eventual conquest.
The series was tied 1-1 heading into the fourth Test in Melbourne, where Cummins did it all across both innings, scoring a crucial 90 runs and picking up six wickets in the match to conjure a result out of a game that was headed towards a draw. By the time the last Test in Sydney came around, Australia and Cummins had rattled India and broken down pace ace Bumrah enough to have him injured for the final innings. Australia won the Test and took the series 3-1.
The story is similar in The Ashes. The Aussies have won or drawn the last four Ashes series home and away. Cummins has been the leading wicket- taker in three of the last four Ashes. That is sustained excellence in five-match Test series in England and Australia for more than seven years as a top-tier fast bowler and reliable lower-order batsman.
And Cummins is only 31. Fans tend to forget that he made his Test debut against South Africa at the age of 18 in 2011. Australia did not select teenagers for Tests back then. He was that special.
But Cummins suffered a serious back injury that kept him out of cricket until 2015 and Tests for two more years. So in all, Cummins lost close to six years of his best years as a fast bowler.
He returned to his top form in all formats from 2017 onwards, and has not missed a step since; the credit for which must also go to Australia who waited five years for one player.
At this stage of his career, Cummins has won it all, cemented his status arguably the most successful cricketer of the 21st century and also bagged a record contract in the IPL.
It's a shame he is not spoken about in the same breath as Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Still, Cummins could retire tomorrow and rest assured that no other player or captain will come close to his record.
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
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Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).
How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
• Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You can do this by earning more, or being frugal. Better still, do both.
• Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.
• Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.
• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.
• Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.
• Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.
• Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.
• Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Hawks
Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
Falcons
Coach: Najeeb Amar
Squad: Kavisha Kumari (captain), Almaseera Jahangir, Annika Shivpuri, Archisha Mukherjee, Judit Cleetus, Ishani Senavirathne, Lavanya Keny, Mahika Gaur, Malavika Unnithan, Rishitha Rajith, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Shashini Kaluarachchi, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Vaishnave Mahesh
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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