It doesn't look pretty but Australia's young tearaway says his only worry from delivery stride falls is embarrassment
Cummins not worried by his ungainly slip-ups
If the sight of Australia's prized fast-bowling prodigy Pat Cummins regularly collapsing in an ungainly tangle at the point of delivery is sending chills up the spines of many in the game, then the man himself has offered timely assurance.
Not that Cummins, whose hugely promising international career has already been severely curtailed by injury, has found a remedy to the issue that causes a sharp inhalation of breath each time he lands on his right foot at point of delivery only to have it slide away from beneath him.
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It's more that the 21-year-old has experienced the spectacular setback on so many occasions that he carries no fear it will inflict anything more severe than embarrassment.
Others who carry a greater sense of unease when they see the tall, athletic young quick crash heavily into the rock-hard surface of a cricket pitch with his back leg extended on the ground and his front leg bent and, with spikes gripping the surface, bearing his full weight have clear reason.
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Cummins slips in Hobart against Scotland // Wide World of Sports
For those not as familiar with the scenario as Cummins and his teammates, the initial reaction is that his left leg – the front leg as he lands (or in this case, doesn't) – looks likely to be dangerously wrenched almost in the manner of a speed skater failing to take a bend.
And then there's the history.
Since announcing himself to the Test cricket world with seven wickets in his debut against South Africa in 2011, Cummins has been beset by a litany of serious long-term back and foot injuries to the extent that he has just six first-class matches to his name.
But in the wake of his three-wicket performance in Australia's thumping World Cup win over Scotland in Hobart yesterday, his first game since suffering a side 'niggle' a fortnight earlier, Cummins shrugged off his signature stumble.
"It's more the opposite, I've done it about six or seven times now so the more I do it the less worried I get," Cummins said of the slide he took on his return to domestic cricket in this summer's Matador One-Day Cup last October and most recently in Australia's World Cup loss to New Zealand.
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Cummins off his feet in the Matador Cup against Queensland // Wide World of Sports
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Down again in the Matador, this time against Victoria // Wide World of Sports
"But it's something that I should stop doing.
"My back foot just kind of lands on one of the spikes (in his right boot) every ball and if I bowl one that's just slightly a bit further it slides underneath me.
"But I've done it enough not to get too worried about it."
Although he went for a few runs in his seven-over spell against Scotland at a blustery Blundstone Arena on Saturday, with his initial spell into the wind proving the most indifferent, it was his intermediate spell of 3-1 from 13 deliveries that underscored why he is so highly rated.
Several kph faster than New South Wales teammate Josh Hazlewood, with whom he is battling for that third seamer's berth behind Mitchells Starc and Johnson in Australia's best ODI XI, Cummins' capacity to conjure wickets as well as slow scoring in the final overs is seen as pivotal.
Hence the fear that when he picked up soreness in his left side in the wake of the loss in Auckland last month he may be lost for a bulk of the World Cup campaign.
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Taking a tumble on the world stage in Auckland // Fox Sports
But again, Cummins held no such concern.
"I've done my side two or three years ago and that was a really bad one, but this time I could tell it was nowhere near anything similar to that one," he said today.
"But I did need that week or two rest – I don't think I would have been ready for the last couple of games (against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka).
Once the World Cup is run and won, Cummins will head to India for a stint in the lucrative Premier League but also with an eye to returning to the long-form of the game and to add to his solitary Test appearance.
While he has been carefully and conservatively managed through his most recent comeback from back stress fractures and has therefore not played a first-class match since he returned early from an Australia A tour to South Africa in 2013, Cummins feels ready to return to the red ball game.
Australia's two-Test visit to the West Indies in early June might not be the ideal environment in which to reunite him with the Test squad given the back-breaking nature of Caribbean pitches.
A slip up in the Big Bash League
But the subsequent five-Test Ashes tour of the UK could have considerable appeal for the fast bowler, the national selectors and Australia cricket fans alike.
"I've got no idea what the plan is to be honest," Cummins said today.
"I don't think I'll get the chance to play any first-class cricket in the next couple of months (but) my body feels great," Cummins said today.
"I have been bowling for 12 or 15 months and in terms of injuries and my body I am certainly available.
"Obviously there's a couple of winter tours I'd love to be a part of, but we'll have to wait and see."
The fact that he took the new ball in partnership with Starc and ahead of Johnson against Scotland revealed more about the strength of the south-westerly wind that bowlers from the Derwent River end of the ground were forced to compete with yesterday.
But the fact that Australia has three fast bowlers capable of reaching speeds in the mid 140kph zone and above provides them with a point of difference from their rival bowling attacks heading into the sudden-death phase of the World Cup.
And untimely spills notwithstanding, Cummins is looking forward to taking the ball – new or otherwise – on the hard, bouncy Adelaide Oval surface in Australia's quarter-final fixture on Friday.
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"I've played two games this year there (Adelaide) and it's been great," Cummins said.
"It's been fast and bouncy both games I've played there – it's been probably close to the quickest wicket I've played on this year I reckon so with a few of us guys trying to bowl quicker I think it's going to favour us.
"In one-dayers (the way they are currently played) is to let the middle overs run through and batsmen try and accumulate plenty of singles.
"So I think with fast bowlers you can try and rough them up or have a bit more flexibility of trying to be aggressive through those middle overs and hopefully it's one thing that sets us (Australia) apart.
"(Also) having most of our games in Australia, the bouncer is really important.
"You can bowl two of them an over and if you execute it well you can defend it pretty well or it can be a dot ball which, especially towards the end of an innings, can be gold.
"So it's definitely something I think we're going to continue using."