Melbourne, Dec 30 (IANS): 2023 has been a year where Australia grabbed the two big silverwares in men’s international cricket: the World Test Championship mace and ODI World Cup trophy. Both wins came under Pat Cummins’ leadership and Australia head coach Andrew McDonald believes the pacer has grown as a leader and will only get better.

“I think anytime you start your captaincy regime, you’re never going to be at your best. You are going to learn and grow across the journey. But in terms of as a player, I think he’s probably held where he’s been at for two three years. His body’s been sound.”

“He has had the opportunity to play a lot of cricket and his performance execution as a player over the last two years has been outstanding. But as a leader, he has definitely grown and I think you will see him grow again,” McDonald was quoted as saying by Fox Sports.

Recently, Cummins took the Player of the Match award in Australia’s Boxing Day Test win over Pakistan, where his match haul was worth 10-97 and also passed the 250-mark of wickets in the format, becoming the tenth bowler from his country to do so.

“He missed a lot cricket when he was younger as well. (He is) almost making up for a little bit of last time. But we saw yesterday, and even in the context of the whole game, his ability to extract movement late in the game, the ability to execute good bouncers, it is just a joy to watch, really,” added McDonald.

Australia also end the year by retaining the Ashes in England and becoming holders of the Benaud-Qadir Trophy yet again. “I think tactically, a lot of captains are maligned in hindsight, whether it’s right or wrong, what they’ve done. But I think that the most important thing is the planning and discussions you have leading into the decision making and he is really open with that.”

“A lot of good ideas flow either way from him and his leadership core of players and from coaches and he is very level to work with. Across a Test match, you wouldn’t know what the score is based upon his body language.”

“I think that’s the art of captaincy, to be consistent and connected with your playing group and your staff and have the ability to make the good decisions at the right time. And at the moment, the last 12 months, you’d say he’s put a lot of the right levers,” concluded McDonald.