No captain of the Australian Test cricket team—and there have now been 47 of them—has ascended to the most revered throne in Australian sport in such excruciatingly sad circumstances than the golden boy Pat Cummins. And few have been immediately confronted with such a weighty first assignment—or so much goodwill. Australian cricket—indeed, the game at large—was being confronted by issues of image and culture in various ways and Cummins’ arrival in a position of such power and influence on and off the field of play had a lot going for it.

Captain Pat: Cometh the Hour, Cummins the Man is the first book to focus on the Australian international cricketer and Captain of the Australian Test team. From his early life to his arrival as a Test cricketer at a remarkably early age, his frustrations with injury, and his arrival as the 47th Australian Test Captain, he is a player who took Australia and the cricket world by storm the moment he first donned the famous baggy green cap. Award-winning sports writer Ron Reed pays tribute to Pat Cummins and examines his scorecard: how has he played, how did he lead, how was he rated by the fans, and what is his future?