Pessimistic Poms on top in disaster plans

PAT Cummins concedes there’s one area where

England has Australia covered … having contingency plans for a first-ball disaster.

Addressing the chaos caused by Mitchell Starc’s thunderclap “where were you” moment at the Gabba, England coach Chris Silverwood downplayed the dramatic departure of Rory Burns from the first ball of the series by intimating it was one of many worst-case scenarios the team had prepared for.

What Silverwood was probably trying to say was that even a seismic moment like that shouldn’t derail England’s confidence, but to even be contemplating “what ifs” in game preparation seemed to reinforce a negative mindset.

Cummins admits contingency planning for a first-ball wicket was too intricate for Australia. “That’s a lot of balls to plan for. We’re not that thorough,” he said.

Cummins said data analysis has become a massive part of the game but Australia found it important to concentrate on positives and not what the opposition might do.

“I think as a rule you want to concentrate on what you do well. If you get too caught up in the opposition you start losing track of what makes you a good side or a good player,” the Aussie skipper said.

“We like to reaffirm the games we win. When someone does well we look at those performances and they become the benchmark we try to reach every time we play.

“You can look at information and data and you’ll get whatever you want to get out of it. But it’s a game – there’s so many unknowns, you can’t plan for everything.”

Silverwood said England’s plan aimed to make players feel as normal as possible even when things go off script.