By Ian Omoro
Pat Cummins is expected to miss Australia’s two-match Test tour to Sri Lanka, which will take place in late January or early February next year. The Australian captain anticipates the birth of his second child with wife Becky around the same time.
Australia will play their final series against Sri Lanka before the World Test Championship Final qualification at Lord’s in June of the following year. For the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Cummins and his team are preparing to host India and Pakistan for a series of white-ball matches.
Cummins stated that he intends to spend more time at home this time around, at least during the first few days after his child’s birth. The 31-year-old batsman also revealed that Australia’s cricketing culture is “pretty open” when it comes to family, and no one “bats an eyelid” if a person prioritizes his family over cricket.
“Yeah it’s definitely a factor. We haven’t worked out exactly what that looks like – it’s pretty hard to plan exactly the day, but definitely. I missed a big chunk [of son Albie’s early days] last time and I want to work out how we can spend a bit more time at home for that initial period this time,” Cummins told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Within reason, no one is ever going to bat an eyelid if someone needs to put their family first. We’re playing cricket, it’s not the end of the world. We want people to have long, successful careers for Australia, and you can’t just ask them to put their life on hold to go tour the world and forget about everything else. We’re pretty open when it comes to family,” he added.
Pat Cummins isn’t the only Australian cricketer planning to take parental leave soon. His colleagues Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh will miss Australia’s forthcoming white-ball matches against Pakistan at home.
