Two World Cups in three years and a raft of other successes make Australian team one of the best ever
Pat Cummins is adamant the legacy of his World Cup-winning team has been assured after arriving home triumphant from a marathon campaign in India still “buzzing” from a victory he thought was long odds early in the tournament.
While more trophies are in the future of the Australian Test and ODI captain, a raft of his teammates, including fellow fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who flew into Sydney with the skipper on Wednesday morning, won’t be around for the title defence in 2027.
But with the World Cup triumph coming on the back of victory in the World Test Championship final in England, where they also retained the Ashes, plus a T20 World Cup win in 2021, Cummins said the current group of players had booked their place among the best Australian teams ever.
“I think they have created their own legacy,” Cummins said after touching down at Sydney airport.
“A World Cup, you only get one chance every four years and especially playing somewhere like India, it’s hard.
“To be pitted up against the rest of the world and come away with a medal, it doesn’t get any better than that.
“Adding to that an away Ashes series, a World Test Championship. We couldn’t have planned for much better, so a pretty satisfied group.
“It’s been an awesome couple of days and I think we’ll be smiling for a while.”
The World Cup victory has been labelled by some of the game’s greats as one of Australia’s greatest, among six titles, given the poor start, injuries and marathon year to date.
Cummins conceded he had doubts during those early stumbles before the Aussies were “flawless” in winning nine straight games to lift the trophy.
“To be honest (I did think we were long odds),” Cummins said.
“It almost became a sudden death really. We thought we pretty much had to be flawless from there on in just to make the semis.
“And we pretty much were. We started to find ways to win, even when we weren’t having our best days.
“The belief never left. We knew once we clicked we could take on anyone and that proved to be the case.
“We’ll savour this for a long time and I’m sure the stories will keep rolling on for a while.”
Hazlewood, now a two-time ODI World Cup winner along with Cummins and Mitchell Starc, the third member of Australia’s pace assault, conceded they may not come together again for the next tournament in South Africa.
“South Africa, that might suit us,” he said.
“But four years is a long time, so we’ll see.”
Hazlewood will be 36 in 2027 and Starc 37, although veteran opener David Warner, who will be 41 when the next World Cup rolls around, is not giving up hope he could still be available.
Originally published as Two World Cups in three years and a raft of other successes make Australian team one of the best ever
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails