Ashes 2023: Pat Cummins Says He Feels Fresher Arriving At The Oval Than 2019 Tour

5th Ashes Test: Australian captain Pat Cummins has said that he feels more rejuvenated heading to the Oval for the fifth and final Test in comparison to the 2019 tour as his team chases its first Ashes series win on English soil in 22 years.

Cummins recalls the final game of the 2019 series as the sole occasion when he was concerned about potentially missing a Test due to fatigue as Australia played the World Cup before the Test series. Despite his worries, he managed to take five wickets and bowled the most overs among Australia's fast bowlers.

"I remember turning up here in 2019 for the fifth Test and I was wrecked. It's probably the only time in my career where I thought I genuinely might not be able to play. But I still did a decent job then. And I feel in a much better position now.

"There have been a couple of little breaks. Two matches on, a bit of a break. I feel really well-placed. Starcy and Bolo (Scott Boland) and Joshy (Hazlewood) have all missed games. I feel like we’ve managed the resources really well and everyone is in a pretty good spot," Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. 

Cummins further praised Mitchel Starc, who continues to lead the pack as the oldest among Australia's fast bowlers with a career spanning nearly 12 years which includes 81 Test matches, where he has taken 325 wickets at an average of under 28 and a striking rate of just 49.

The 33-year old Starc looked troubled at Old Trafford while repeatedly clutching at his shoulder after landing awkwardly during the match.

"He's got something going on there," Cummins said of Starc's shoulder. 

"But he’s come out and bowled at Old Trafford. We weren’t really sure about it. He’s got a history with it right now. You don't do that without being extremely tough. 

Especially the way he bowls at 150ks. I reckon his pain threshold is as high as I've ever seen. And his resilience, not only through injuries but everything he goes through," he added.

The 30-year-old brushed off the suggestions that his captaincy credentials should be reassessed due to the high-scoring match at Manchester last week and took complete responsibility for the on-field tactics that allowed England to score at an alarming rate of nearly 5.5 runs per over with Australia seemingly unable to contain the opposition's scoring spree.

"I’ve been in this job two years now and you learn pretty quickly that you’ve got to have a thick skin. I’m not going to please everyone and everyone’s got opinions but they aren’t facts, they’re opinions," Cummins said of the criticism that flowed from day two at Old Trafford.

"It’s something we speak a lot of as a group (keeping) a calm environment, it’s off the field but on the field as well and it probably wasn’t our best day in terms of that. And that’s my fault, it's no one else’s.

"It’s tough -- you're out there, the wicket’s a flat wicket, the batters are batting well, it’s played at a different pace to pretty much any Test cricket before. But you’ve seen similar on the flip side as well with them (England) having nine fielders out, the whole dynamic is different. I love the problem-solving aspect of it (and) learnt a lot of lessons from the last game," he said.

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The fifth and final test at The Oval begins on Thursday, with a win for Australia ensuring their first series victory on English soil since 2001.