Before Cape Town, the MCG, Chennai, the MCG again, or Lord’s, there is Darwin. Along with Mackay, set for its Test debut next week, Australia’s north is the remote start line for a quad-continental 2026-27 adventure.
In a year’s time, Pat Cummins’ men will be a fortnight removed from an Ashes tour that caps a 12-month stretch of Test cricket which will be the first, and probably the last, of its kind. By then Australia will know whether beginning their legacy-defining stretch of games with the oldest XI they have fielded in a century was masterstroke, lunacy, or somewhere in the middle.
“I think so much of the last six months has been setting up the next 12 months,” Cummins said today of his team’s 20-Test run that sees them face South Africa, New Zealand, India and England (as well as a possible World Test Championship final) after their two-Test northern series against Bangladesh.
Even after offloading their oldest player from the Ashes finale in January, Usman Khawaja, the Aussies’ eight-month interval has given them an even more senior side for the Northern Territory’s long-coveted return as a Test host.
Australia are unapologetically ride-or-die with a group that have achieved just about everything in international cricket. After World Cup wins in both white-ball formats, a World Test Championship title, home Test victories over all their major competitors, away India and England Test series triumphs now loom as their final dragons to slay.
So perhaps it is right that the bowling foursome that have underpinned so much of that Test success (and the fast-bowling trio that have also led their major limited-overs achievements) gets first crack at a Bangladesh side few fancy to pose any threat to their intimadating hosts.
It is coming up to nine years since the Cummins-Mitchell Starc-Josh Hazlewood-Nathan Lyon quartet was first assembled for the 2017-18 Ashes opener. They have since amassed more than 1,600 Test wickets between them, a third coming in the 35 Tests they have played together. Statistically, they are the greatest Test bowling group ever assembled; so strong that Scott Boland, whose Test bowling average of 18.58 shrinks to 16.20 at home, cannot get a game.
“I started in 2011, got back in the Test side about 2017 – it’s almost 10 years ago,” said Cummins, smiling as his mind did the maths in real time. “It’s crazy, it doesn’t seem that long, it all happens really quickly. It feels very normal that we’re all around. It’s awesome.
“I know age gets spoken about a lot – but feels like it’s all gone pretty quick. It doesn’t feel like we’re in worse shape than we ever have been. So hopefully, still a bit of time to come.”
Cummins started his career by taking the mantle as the youngest Australian man to take a Test wicket; several of his long-time bowling partners could in the coming months become some of the oldest. And even as their similar-aged counterparts from other countries understandably pivot to the shorter formats, for Cummins’ band of ageing warriors, Test cricket remains the overarching priority.
Australia’s 33-year-old skipper last summer effectively sacrificed a shot at playing the T20 World Cup to play one Ashes Test in an injury-marred summer. As Australian cricket wraps its head around a more T20-centric future, the men’s team backroom staff have doubled down on their long-form focus.
The lucrative Indian Premier League jaunts of Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc earlier in the year were all capped to allow all three more time to reinvest into their bodies. Instead of working on his slower balls and yorkers, Cummins has been strengthening his hamstrings and lower legs, leaving him feeling “as good as I have in years and years”.
“The medical team and the coaches mapping out that schedule – a few of us missed the recent white-ball series (against Pakistan and Bangladesh), even (had a) shortened IPL to make sure that we gave ourselves every chance to come into this first Test as well placed as we can be,” he said.
“We’ve done that. It’s been a great few months. Now it’s all about playing. We don’t look too far ahead. We’re quite good at just being quite present … For us at the moment, it’s all Bangladesh in this series.”
When Cummins was told Lyon had declared his intention to play all of Australia’s next 21 Tests, he said: “I’m surprised he didn’t say 21 years.” The off-spinner assumes Khawaja’s mantle as the eldest of elder statesmen in the XI, confident his lower limbs will not fail him as they did at Lord’s in 2023 and Adelaide in 2025.
“There’s no reason why not,” Cummins said of Lyon’s bid to play every match. “He’s in as good a shape as I’ve seen him. It’s obviously a pretty big workload, but he’s done it similarly before, so he’s given himself every chance.”
“I was even looking at some footage the other day of that Adelaide Test, and I think that’s the best he’s bowled in years. So it was really bad timing.
“It’s been pretty public how hard he’s worked over the last six months or so. He’s in there every day training, looking for this opportunity. He looks in incredible shape, he’s been bowling beautifully, and as a captain and teammate, it’s going to be awesome having him back out there.”
Given the team’s age profile, it was little surprise much of the scrutiny in recent months has centered on its youngest player, Cameron Green, whose much anticipated coming-of-age remains a work in progress.
The laidback approach of leaders Cummins and Andrew McDonald was evident as the pair spoke in-depth to the softly-spoken Green as they walked laps of the training ground behind Marrara’s main stadium on Tuesday, the 27-year-old allrounder holding a rugby league football for much of it.
As much as Cummins and McDonald have backed in the ageing nucleus of their side, there is perhaps an acknowledgement that improvement must come from beyond their champion core if they hope to conquer the likes of India and England abroad.
“You meet all kinds of different personalities, even really gentle (ones),” Cummins said of Green. “But then when they get in the competition, they turn into different people.
“And for us, it’s always (about) looking at when you’re at your best. You see him in some T20 games, he’s banging the ball around, he’s almost got too many skills.
“So it’s like, ‘Just get out there, assert yourself, strip it away, there’s no pressure from us. You’ve got freedom. Get out of your own way and just play’.”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium, Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad (first Test): Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan
