Cummins eyes late show for World Cup

Young gun Pat Cummins iced a thrilling three-wicket win in the dying stages last night with the bat, but come World Cup time, he wants to be winning games at the death with the ball.

The 21-year-old hit the winning runs against South Africa for the second time in his brief international career, clinching the Carlton Mid ODI series in the process.

But now that he’s returned to the Australian one-day international side for the first time since June 2012, Cummins has pinpointed the area where he thinks he can be a key player for Australia in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.

"Bowling towards the death is something I’d like to nail down,” said Cummins.

"It’s a time in the innings where the batsmen can get away from you or you can rein them in a little bit.

"The immediate goal is to try and get in that World Cup side.

"It was my first ODI in Australia and my first ODI for two or three years, so personally I was buzzing to be out there.

"Whenever there’s a series win on the line, it’s always a pretty special thing.

"Wins are what you play for, but series wins are really special."

Despite his calm and collected appearance, Cummins admits he was feeling the pinch watching Australia inch towards victory in Melbourne.

"I went and got my pads on and sat on a chair and didn’t move for about two hours. 

"I was just yelling at every ball. So I was very nervous.

"We were quite lucky, having Jimmy Faulkner at No.8 shows how deep the batting order is and I always think there’s a bit of belief there and fortunately it came off.

"I had one ball to face in that second last over and I thought it was a bit of a free hit.

"If I didn’t get the runs then Faulkner was on strike. It almost turned into the worst result but fortunately we got there."

A win over the Proteas in the final ODI at the SCG on Sunday will see Australia return to the top of the ICC ODI team rankings, and Cummins says doing it against a quality team like South Africa has the hosts in good shape heading into cricket’s showpiece event in February and March.

"Our goal is to be No.1 in all formats and beating a side like South Africa in conditions that aren’t too dissimilar to what they have is a great sign of where we’re going.

"We’ve still got plenty of games to come before the World Cup to get a settled team and work out who’s in the side and the best way to play.

"All signs are really good at the moment."