“At this point, probably yes,” Hazlewood said if the decision now made him the first choice behind Cummins. “It’s hard to say, I’m a fast bowler, and I’ll probably miss games here and there too.
“Obviously we have [Steven] Smith, who was vice-captain tonight, and down the chain there’s another couple in the leadership group. So there are a lot of options there and I felt that in the middle there were a number of senior players I could talk to and get their opinion on.”
During the draw, Hazlewood had spoken of a ‘wider leadership group’, with Cummins himself saying when he took over that he believed a wider range of captains could work in the ODIs. ahead of next year’s World Cup in India.
“Test cricket is another story,” Hazlewood said after the game. “There’s a captain and that’s his team, whereas one-day players and T20s often have a different group and a different senior group. I think that’s a good model, and I think that works so far.”
Hazlewood admitted it took a while to settle into the field – his first two overs conceded 21 – and felt he should return to school cricket for the last time as captain of a team.
“It was quite exciting at first and a little scary,” he said. “But once we got on the pitch it was a lot of fun. I certainly enjoyed it, and it was a bit of a challenge there as that partnership unfolded, and then we had a few wickets and that set the game up.
“I was thinking everyone’s bowling rather than my own at first, but I got into a groove there. And then it all seemed to go pretty well. But overall, you leave it up to the bowlers. They know the delivery that they want to bowl and they own their land and they own their result as well. So there was no time that I had to interfere or argue, so everything went smoothly.
“I don’t expect Pat to play every one-day game before the World Cup,” national team chairman George Bailey said when Cummins was named ODI captain. “We have a number of players in the squad who can take the lead if they need to, so I expect to see two or three guys take the lead at some point.
“We’re moving away from this concept of a captain taking over and his all-encompassing leadership. It’s a collaboration sometimes.”
However, the future of Australia’s T20I captaincy remains uncertain. Finch said he won’t make a decision on his career until the BBL ends, but he’s not expected to continue until the 2024 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.
