A brief and successful history of fast-bowling captains

If history is any guide, installing Pat Cummins as captain of Australia's Test team would not detract from his output as the world's best fast bowler.

If anything, it could make him even better.

If, as expected, Cummins is this week confirmed as Australia's 47th captain in men's Tests, it would put the current team in unprecedented territory.

Apart from a one-off cameo from Ray Lindwall in 1956, Australia's men's side has never appointed a frontline fast bowler to lead them in Test cricket, the closest being medium-pace allrounders Monty Noble and Jack Ryder more than a century ago.

However, appointing Cummins would not be completely new ground.

Fast bowlers Sharon Tredrea and Raelee Thompson captained Australia's women's team in Test cricket in the late 1970s and early 1980s, while most other nations have had a speedster lead them in men's Tests at some point in the past 50 years.

While only briefly dotted throughout history, these examples indicate that saddling Cummins with the captaincy will not be a case of robbing Peter (Australia's fast bowling) to pay Paul (the leadership of the side).

Of the 10 men's fast bowlers to take 50 or more wickets as Test captain, seven have a better bowling average as skipper compared to when they weren't leading the side.

Legendary fast-bowling allrounders Imran Khan and Kapil Dev, South African great Shaun Pollock and England legend Bob Willis all had noticeably better bowling averages as captain than not, while the bowling records of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Jason Holder are also marginally better when they were skipper.

The three exceptions are West Indies pair Courtney Walsh (average of 25.71 as captain compared to 24.20 not as captain) and Daren Sammy (39.61 and 27.74) as well as Zimbabwe's Heath Streak (34.80 and 25.81).

Of course, raw numbers don't always tell the full story. Captains are generally experienced and hardened players, which would logically lead to better performances on the field (allrounders Imran and Kapil also enjoyed better batting averages when they were skipper).

Image Id: C34E668DAC33433CA3B1796362EAC518 Image Caption: Imran Khan averaged 52 with the bat and 20 with the ball in 48 Tests as captain // Getty

And while it is only a small sample size of some of the game's greatest players, it indicates any concern that Pat Cummins the bowler will be weighed down by the captaincy is unfounded.

From these 10 historical examples, there is no clear pattern to indicate whether the number of overs Cummins will bowl will deviate much from his current rate of around 38 overs per Test match. Imran, Waqar and Walsh all bowled much less as captain (which may have had as much to do with their age as much as the fact they were skipper), Holder bowled himself slightly more, while Pollock and Wasim bowled the same amount whether they were captain or not.

Already this week, Cummins has won support from the likes of Pollock, England legend Jimmy Anderson (who himself has lamented that he was never asked to be Test captain during his career) as well as former Australia and NSW quick Geoff Lawson, one of just three fast bowlers to have captained more than 25 Sheffield Shield matches, along with Lindwall and Victoria's Paul Reiffel.

Pollock, who took 103 wickets at 21.36 in 26 Tests as captain, has backed Cummins to do the job and dismissed the suggestion that the 28-year-old – who has missed just two Test matches in the past four-and-a-half years – would need to be rested during a series due to the high workload.

"I think you would want continuity through any big series, and breaks can come at other times," he said.

"So fitness of the individual is key but I don't think you want the player to miss. I think they would need to push through.

"I think it can work. You just have to learn how to take the emotions of your own bowling performance out of the equation as much as you can and have a good relationship with someone behind the stumps as that gives you a good second opinion."

Both Lawson and Anderson have lamented the historical lack of fast-bowling captains in Test cricket, which they say is a relic of the game's past where the 'gentlemen' of the sport were batting captains who considered the toil of fast bowling to be beneath them.

But the tide is turning, albeit slowly, with the 10 fast bowlers to have taken 50 or more wickets as captain all coming in the past four decades.

And 144 years after Dave Gregory became Australia's first ever Test captain, Cummins could soon become the latest to break the mould.

Fast-bowling captains in men's Test cricket

(minimum 50 wickets)

Imran Khan (Pakistan)

Not as captain

M: 40 | Wkts: 175 | Ave: 25.53 | BBI: 8-58 | 5WI: 11

As captain

M: 48 | Wkts: 187 | Ave: 20.26 | BBI: 8-60 | 5WI: 12

Kapil Dev (India)

Not as captain

M: 97 | Wkts: 323 | Ave: 30.78 | BBI: 8-85 | 5WI: 19

As captain

M: 34 | Wkts: 111 | Ave: 26.35 | BBI: 9-83 | 5WI: 4

Wasim Akram (Pakistan)

Not as captain

M: 79 | Wkts: 307 | Ave: 23.71 | BBI: 7-119 | 5WI: 22

As captain

M: 25 | Wkts: 107 | Ave: 23.35 | BBI: 6-48 | 5WI: 3

Shaun Pollock (South Africa)

Not as captain

M: 82 | Wkts: 318 | Ave: 23.68 | BBI: 7-87 | 5WI: 12

As captain

M: 26 | Wkts: 103 | Ave: 21.36 | BBI: 6-30 | 5WI: 4

Image Id: C265A113392C49968C662DEB47201F3E Image Caption: Waqar and Wasim both captained Pakistan in Test cricket // Getty

Jason Holder (West Indies)*

Not as captain

M: 15 | Wkts: 37 | Ave: 27.05 | BBI: 5-27 | 5WI: 1

As captain

M: 37 | Wkts: 100 | Ave: 26.76 | BBI: 6-42 | 5WI: 7

Courtney Walsh (West Indies)

Not as captain

M: 110 | Wkts: 434 | Ave: 24.19 | BBI: 6-54 | 5WI: 15

As captain

M: 22 | Wkts: 85 | Ave: 25.71 | BBI: 7-37 | 5WI: 7

Bob Willis (England)

Not as captain

M: 72 | Wkts: 248 | Ave: 26.31 | BBI: 8-43 | 5WI: 13

As captain

M: 18 | Wkts: 77 | Ave: 21.59 | BBI: 6-101 | 5WI: 3

Waqar Younis (Pakistan)

Not as captain

M: 70 | Wkts: 306 | Ave: 23.57 | BBI: 7-76 | 5WI: 19

As captain

M: 17 | Wkts: 67 | Ave: 23.47 | BBI: 7-91 | 5WI: 3

Daren Sammy (West Indies)

Not as captain

M: 8 | Wkts: 27 | Ave: 27.74 | BBI: 7-66 | 5WI: 3

As captain

M: 30 | Wkts: 57 | Ave: 39.61 | BBI: 5-29 | 5WI: 1

Heath Streak (Zimbabwe)

Not as captain

M: 44 | Wkts: 160 | Ave: 25.81 | BBI: 6-73 | 5WI: 7

As captain

M: 21 | Wkts: 56 | Ave: 34.80 | BBI: 4-38 | 5WI: 0

*Test match between West Indies and Sri Lanka in Galle is ongoing

Vodafone Men's Ashes v England

Tour Matches

Nov 23-25: England v England Lions, Brisbane

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Dec 1-3: Australian intra-squad match, Brisbane

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Tests

First Test: December 8-12, The Gabba

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Fifth Test: January 14-18, Perth Stadium