No Excuses, Few Answers: Cummins Concedes Australia Were Outplayed, Ponting Says Change Is ‘Inevitable'

Pat Cummins offered no excuses. Ricky Ponting offered something Australia may find considerably harder to swallow: Change.

Bangladesh had just completed the most emphatic statement of their Test history, beating Australia by nine wickets in Darwin after dismissing them twice and piling up 426 against an attack featuring Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. “They outplayed us in all departments,” Cummins conceded. “They were patient and disciplined.”

Ponting's diagnosis was harsher. “I think it's inevitable they have to make change,” the former Australian captain said on Channel 7, arguing that the warning signs had been visible long before Bangladesh exposed them in Darwin.

Suddenly, Australia's defeat isn't merely about what went wrong over four days. It is about whether this team has reached the point where bouncing back requires changing the personnel doing the bouncing.

‘No excuses’

Australia's problems began almost immediately. They chose to bat and were bowled out for 198, with Hasan Mahmud ripping through the line-up for 6/55. Cummins insisted Australia's preparation had been “spot on”.

The cricket wasn't.

“Probably that day one,” he said when asked where the Test had slipped away. “No excuses. They played well. We had to find a way to bat longer, and then we couldn't penetrate with the ball.” That inability to penetrate became brutal.

Bangladesh responded with 426. Tanzid Hasan struck 101, Najmul Hossain Shanto made 84 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz added 65 as Bangladesh turned Australia's first-innings collapse into a 228-run lead. Josh Hazlewood fought almost alone with 6/89. Australia's attack, otherwise, couldn't stop Bangladesh from taking the Test away. Green fought. Australia didn't have enough fighters Australia finally showed some resistance in the second innings. Cameron Green made 104. Steve Smith contributed 44. Alex Carey added 30. But Australia needed partnerships. They got fragments. “Green's tempo showed how good he is,” Cummins said. “He needed a couple of us to hang in with him.”

Nobody did for long enough. Miraz took 5/66 and Mahmud followed his first-innings six-for with 3/56 as Australia were dismissed for 284. Bangladesh needed 57. They lost one wicket. Mominul Haque finished unbeaten on 30 and Shadman Islam made 25 not out as Bangladesh completed their first Test victory on Australian soil and took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Australia had been beaten by nine wickets.

Then Ponting went after the bigger problem.

He argued at the end of the previous Australian summer that this was the moment to begin refreshing the Test side. Darwin, in his assessment, merely strengthened the case. “I was on the record at the end of last summer thinking that this was the ideal time to start to regenerate this team because of the performances from some of the players,” Ponting said.

Coming from Ponting, the call carries extra weight because he has traditionally resisted chopping players quickly. “I am the last one to want to make change,” he said. “As a captain or as a player, I wanted to keep the group together. So it has to get to a bad point before I start saying you ought to leave somebody out.”

His conclusion now? Australia may have reached that point. Ponting specifically raised the possibility of introducing another opener and a new No. 3, putting the spotlight on Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne.

Labuschagne has not scored a Test century since the 2023 Ashes in England. Weatherald, who debuted during last year's home Ashes, has scored 224 runs from 12 innings at an average of 20.36, with one half-century, according to ANI. For Ponting, Australia risk little by beginning the transition now. “There had been enough evidence for me coming here to suggest that they were not going to lose anything or much at all by starting that regeneration,” he said.

That may be the most uncomfortable sentence to emerge from Darwin. Because Australia's problem suddenly looks bigger than 198, 426, 284 and 57/1. It is whether a team packed with established names has reached the stage where reputation is buying more time than performance deserves.

Cummins promised Australia would examine its batting approach and individual match-ups before the second Test. “We're pretty good at bouncing back,” he said. Australia usually are. But Ponting has changed the question. Who should be allowed to bounce back? Bangladesh have already provided one answer about this Australian team. Now Australia must decide whether Darwin was merely a terrible Test to recover from, or the defeat that finally forces them to change.

Cummins says there are no excuses. Ponting says there should be no more waiting.

(With inputs from ANI)