PAT CUMMINS Tested. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress

In Tested, Australia’s cricket captain speaks to leaders in diverse fields to discover their motivation and draw lessons from their success.

The blurb on the front cover of Tested says ‘Big Decisions. Small Decisions. The remarkable power of resolve’ and this provides a strong clue to the book’s content.

The position of Australian Test cricket captain has been described as the second most important job in the country, and former prime minister Bob Hawke once said that if he hadn’t become PM it was the position he would have most liked to attain.

Undoubtedly it’s a position that opens doors. In his introduction, Cummins writes of the time he and his ghost writer Ben Mckelvey:

put together an ambitious list of accomplished people I might speak to about their testing moments, their leadership journeys, who I wanted to understand and learn from.

As Australia’s cricket leader, Pat Cummins has revealed an ability to think beyond the playing field and thus perhaps it should be no surprise that of his eleven subjects – John Bertrand, Richard Scolyer, Julia Gillard, John Moriarty, Dennis Lillee, Shaun Christie-David, Nedd Brockmann, Elizabeth Day, Ronnie Screwvala, Rob Sitch and Becky Cummins – only one is a cricketer.

What does he learn?

From 1983 America’s Cup winning skipper Bertrand comes achieving an impossible dream by recasting ambition ‘beyond what seems impossible’; in world leader in cancer research Scolyer, he finds a man at the peak of his professional powers forced to confront his own aggressive brain cancer, doing so by undertaking experimental treatment with no guarantee of success. Julia Gillard, subjected as prime minister to gendered and personal attacks, discusses how she withstood them and stayed calm in crises. Soccer star, Indigenous leader and businessman Moriarty overcame racism to find purpose through service.

Lillee provides an appreciation of professionalism as a better way of doing things; restaurateur Christie-David battled class discrimination and his immigrant origins to achieve a seemingly successful career in high finance before entering another field and placing social capital before profit. Brokkmann traded life as an electrician for that of an ultra-marathon runner, raising millions of dollars for charities. English journalist and novelist Day started her own podcast series, How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, interviewing high-profile guests who discussed what failure taught them. Indian film producer Screwvala relates the value of serendipity. Comedian, actor, producer and director Rob Sitch discusses the value of parenting. Cummins’ wife Becky emphasises the power of partnerships.

And how does Cummins reflect on such knowledge and its application to cricket?

I wanted our team to be an environment in which everyone could be themselves.

I’ve always enjoyed being in the middle of a physical contest where everyone is hurting. I also appreciate that it’s only in those moments when you’re up against it, that you can find out what you’re made of.

Cricketers – and a lot of sportspeople – are often better at failing than most, because it’s an inherent part of sport. Good cricketers do everything they can to avoid failure, training and preparing as best they can, but good cricketers also know that’s not always going to be enough. Incidentally, the best coaches know this too; some of the worst coaches I’ve had were the ones who yelled and raged any time their team lost.

Creativity sees a place in cricket but whenever you start to talk about being too creative, people can put their guard up … That’s not to say we should be creative just for creativity’s sake – it should always be purposeful.

Because of his success over the past eight years, it’s easy to forget that Pat Cummins made his Test debut at the age of 18 in November 2011, took seven wickets and was named man of the match, but then, due to continual stress fractures in his back, did not play his second day Test match until March 2017. From a fairytale beginning it seemed he might be doomed to be a one-Test wonder.

Cummins worked with Dennis Lillee during his long rehabilitation from injury and describes him as a great coach because of his ability to instil a sense of personal responsibility in him. Not only did Cummins’s bowling change, but his perspective changed, too.

Dennis told me that he ‘didn’t play harder when [he] was being paid, nor play less hard when [he] wasn’t’. That’s true of me and almost all top players. A competitor competes, regardless of incentives.

My key takeaway from talking with Dennis was how he took control of his career, and left no stone unturned in his quest for greatness …

Another takeway for me was how Dennis and the other World Series players professionalised the sport. Part of being a professional is being paid equitably, but another part is to be a custodian for future generations, and to ensure that we leave the game a better place when we end our careers.

Sportsmen (including cricketers) have sometimes been regarded as eternal boys. Living in a homosocial world, many exhibit misogynistic tendencies. Pat Cummins is not among that number. Raised in a loving family, he acknowledges a special debt to his mother Maria, who, diagnosed with breast cancer during his high school years, lived with it but was not defined by it until her death in 2023.

Since the birth of his son Albie in October 2021, Cummins has come to recognise that ‘parenting is hard work’ but ‘that it can’t be all-consuming’. ‘Beyond the need to earn a living and continue to build a career, a parent has an obligation to model what a good life looks like: one that has ambition and balance, compassion and care for the community.’

In closing his book, Cummins writes:

I train because I want to fulfil my potential as a person, and currently cricket is where a large part of that potential lies …

One thing I’ve taken away from this book, while speaking to these incredible people, is that leadership and achievement aren’t goals, they are by-products …

As a younger man I just wanted to reach cricket’s peaks. But now my goals are different. I still want to be a great cricketer, but it’s just as important to me that I be a great dad, husband, son, friend, captain, and maybe mentor too.

Inspiring words which underline the value of a considered life. The book is strongly recommended.

Pat Cummins Tested HarperCollins 2024 PB 288pp $34.99

Bernard Whimpress is a historian who usually writes on sport. His most recent book is Rushed Behinds: Writings on Australian football available from www.lulu.com/spotlight/bernardwhimpress

You can buy Tested from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

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Tags: Australian cricketers, Becky Cummins, Dennis Lillee, Elizabeth Day, inspiration, interviews, John Bertrand, John Moriarty, Julia Gillard, Nedd Brockmann, Pat | Cummins, Richard Scolyer, Rob Sitch, Ronnie Screwvala, Shaun Christie-David