Pat Cummins becomes Australia's ODI skipper; 'Collaborative captaincy' could involve David Warner too

Australia on Tuesday confirmed fast bowler Pat Cummins as their One-Day International (ODI) captain. He replaced Aaron Finch, who recently retired from the format but has continued his role in the T20Is.

Australia's national selector George Bailey on Tuesday spoke about the country's fresh approach on how the team will be led in the ODIs over the next 12 months ahead of the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

While Bailey insisted that choosing Cummins as their new ODI captain was a "no-brainer," he also said that with responsibilities growing on the pacer's shoulders, the player won't be expected to play in every single ODI before the 2023 World Cup in India.

The Australian cricket team could opt for a collaborative captaincy in the 50-over format, which could see the involvement of David Warner, who is currently facing a lifetime ban from any leadership role.

"We are moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and their leadership being all encompassing," Bailey, who is one of the 26 previous ODI captains of Australia, told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday, according to cricket.com.au.

"Pat used the word the other day – it's a collaboration at times. It's one of Pat's great strengths that he's a collaborative leader. We've been really clear with not just Pat but all our multi-format players that we will continue to manage them across all formats. We're very clear on prioritising key series. I also think we've got a number of players who can assume the leadership should they need to.

"I don't expect to see Pat play every one-day game in the lead-in to the World Cup, so I expect that we might see two or three guys take the leadership for a game at some stage," added Bailey.

Among the players who could be involved in Australia's collaborative captaincy are Alex Carey, who led Australia in an ODI series in the Caribbean last year, Steve Smith, a former all-format skipper, and Warner, whose lifetime leadership ban handed down following the 2018 ball-tampering controversy could be reconsidered after Cricket Australia's Board announced a review of the organisation's code of conduct.

David Warner's leadership is 'highly respected' – George Bailey

Bailey also opened up on Warner's critics who have changed their opinion about the southpaw since the infamous Sandpaper Gate in Cape Town.

"What I do hope is that it happens in a really timely manner," Bailey said of CA's code of conduct review. "The longer that drags out just leads to (more) speculation. I don't think that's helpful for David.

"David's leadership within the group is fantastic, titled or not. It's highly respected. I think it's a credit to David that a number of people externally who are now saying it's a no-brainer that he should hold a leadership position were, 18 months, two years ago, some of the strongest advocates for him having a life ban. It's a credit to David that he has worked on himself. Internally I can't speak highly enough of what he brings to the group – as do a number of players," the former Australian captain explained further.

Meanwhile, Cummins, who became Australia's 27th captain of the men's ODI side, had earlier stated that he would expect to lean significantly on others to lead for certain series.

"You'd probably need to look at it a little bit differently to perhaps in the past with so much cricket going on, if I was offered it. Just playing every single game isn't realistic. We've got a handful of guys that play all three formats. In a year like this, T20 becomes the focus leading to a World Cup. Next year might be different with the one-day World Cup. But with 15 Test matches in the next six months, I don't think you can expect the captain to play every game just because he is the captain," Cummins had said before the announcement was made.

While Cummins became the first fast bowler to lead Australia's men's team in white-ball cricket, he also was the first bowler since the late Shane Warne filled in for 11 ODIs in the late 1990s.