Pat Cummins backs under-fire David Warner for 4th Ashes Test: He has shown a lot of good signs

By India Today Sports Desk: Australian captain Pat Cummins has shown unwavering support for his teammate David Warner ahead of the fourth Test match in Manchester. Warner has scored 141 runs from six innings in this Ashes series, but his place at the top of Australia’s batting order has come under scrutiny following his twin failures in the Headingley Test, falling to Ashes nemesis Stuart Broad for 4 and 1 in both innings.

“I think Warner has been going really well. I thought at Lord’s, he was really impressive. Last week, like many of us, he probably didn’t contribute as much as he would have liked with the bat,” Cummins said.

“He’s been out there over the last couple of days putting in a lot of work, but I think on this tour he has shown a lot of good signs and hasn’t quite kicked on to make that big score. Some of those innings he’s played under really tough circumstances have made it easy for (Steven) Smith to come in and score runs, or the like,” Cummins was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“We’ll chat about it (opening combinations) but I imagine it will stay the same,” he added.

While David Warner’s position appears to be insecure, Australia’s dilemma heading into the fourth Test may revolve around whether to bring back all-rounder Cameron Green after Mitch Marsh’s brilliant century at Headingley, or drop spinner Todd Murphy and play both all-rounders.

Green was unable to play in the Headingley Test due to a side strain, so Mitchell Marsh stepped in and impressed with a run-a-ball 118 in the first innings. If Green is set to return for the fourth Test, the difficult decision of benching Todd Murphy to accommodate him may be made.

In the absence of Nathan Lyon, who was injured during the third Test, off-spinner Murphy was brought in but had limited opportunities, bowling only 9.3 overs and only two in the second innings, when England won by three wickets and kept the series alive. If the off-spinner is ruled out of the fourth Test, Australia may go with an all-pace attack.

“Every situation is different. We’ve played games with one quick; we’ve played some games with heaps of quicks. It’s all really conditions based. As I said last week about Toddy, I would have loved to bowl him a bit more but there wasn’t a heap of overs in the game, the ball seemed to swing and seam a little bit, so that’s certainly something to weigh up this week,” Cummins said.