He’s been battered by critics over his position on climate change and the demise of Justin Langer. But “Captain Planet” isn’t changing.
Pat Cummins was one spell into the Australian captaincy when he wondered if his eyes had been too big for his belly.
The 29-year-old has needed an unshakeable belief in himself after being caught in a maelstrom of angry and irrational commentary about his thoughts on climate change. “I usually get ‘Captain Planet’,” Cummins laughs. “A few mates say that. I don’t even know what ‘woke’ means. If anything, some people would say it’s a good thing. It’s a label, it means nothing. You declare, you’re woke. You don’t declare, you’re woke. It popped up again with the Black Lives Matter stuff against the Windies when we took a knee. If anyone thinks that’s a bad thing, that these five minutes out of our lives is the worst thing that can happen to them, we do not care.
In August 2020, Cummins appeared via Skype on Jones’ now-defunct Sky News program. “Well, a bit of cricket royalty,” Jones fawned in his introduction. “People are saying he’s the next in line to captain Australia. Knowing him as I do, he’s the last person who will be thinking about that …”In October 2022, on his YouTube channel, Jones skewered Cummins, telling him that he was “wrong” on climate and that “he should keep his political views to himself”.
Cummins’ climate position became a talking point at the same time Australian netballers supported Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who didn’t want to wear the logo of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting because of racist comments made by her late father.