Australia’s captain Pat Cummins has shunned history with his rare decision to bowl after winning a toss in a Test match at Adelaide Oval.
Cummins is just the 10th skipper to choose to bowl first in the 82 Tests played at the famous South Australian venue.
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Only one of those previous nine bowling calls resulted in a victory — for West Indies’ Clive Lloyd in 1982 — with seven losing the Test and one draw.
Cummins sent West Indies in to bat on Wednesday’s opening day of the first Test.
It’s the first time Australia have won an Adelaide toss and bowled since 1980, when the hosts lost to West Indies by 408 runs.
Cummins’ decision surprised pundits including his former coach and ex-opening batsman Justin Langer.
“You used to always arrive at Adelaide Oval as an opening bat or top order batsman; if you win the toss it was a dream come true because there was no better place in the world to bat,” Langer said in commentary on Channel 7.
“Then it deteriorated over time and became a lot harder to bat on (as the match went on).
“Pat Cummins has obviously seen the grass this morning and overhead conditions and decided (to bowl), which is most unusual.
“He keeps shocking us, Pat Cummins … to be fair to Pat Cummins he has had the Midas touch.
“He did it (bowled first) in the World Cup final and we were all surprised by that.
“Then he did it at the start of the summer, batted first in Perth on a wicket we were certain he would bowl first on.”
The move paid early dividends with Cummins removing both openers inside the first 15 overs.
ADELAIDE OVAL TESTS WHEN CAPTAIN WON TOSS AND BOWLED:
* January 1959, England (lost to Australia by 10 wickets)
* January 1975, England (lost to Australia by 163 runs)
* January 1979, Australia (lost to England by 205 runs)
* January 1980, Australia (lost to West Indies by 408 runs)
* January 1981, India (drew with Australia)
* January 1982, West Indies (beat Australia by 408 runs)
* December 1982, England (lost to Australia by eight wickets)
* January 1992, India (lost to Australia by 38 runs)
* December 2017, England (lost to Australia by 120 runs)
* January 2024, Australia versus West Indies.