Pat Cummins in action against India in Delhi earlier this year.

Pat Cummins in action against India in Delhi earlier this year.Credit:Getty Images

Since being rushed to India midway through the 2017 tour,ironically as an injury replacement after proving his fitness in a rare Sheffield Shield match,Cummins has played 48 of a possible 54 Tests for Australia – missing the last two from the recent India tour to be with his seriously ill mother before she passed away.

Only Nathan Lyon has played more for Australian during that time,managing all 54.

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During his 49 Tests,Cummins has 217 wickets at the remarkable average of 21.5 and strike rate of 47.2.

Unless he takes five wickets or more in the WTC final,Cummins will sit behind four of Australia’s finest bowlers as having taken the most wickets in their first 50 Tests – but the Australian captain has a better average and strike rate than all of them.

Nathan Lyon is the only Australian to play more Tests than Pat Cummins over the past six years.

Nathan Lyon is the only Australian to play more Tests than Pat Cummins over the past six years.Credit:Getty Images

Ahead of him arehis mentor,Dennis Lillee, with 262 wickets from his first 50 Tests,with an average of 23.4 and strike rate of 50.88;Shane Warne (23.4,62.79);Glenn McGrath (22.77,51.72);and Graham McKenzie (28.40,67.88).

And,having just turned 30,Cummins is hopefully that despite the arduous demands of fast bowling,he will be able to play more than a hundred Tests.

“I would love it if I wasn’t halfway yet,” Cummins said. “But we’ll wait and see. I feel really good. I have had two or three months off so I am feeling the best I have for a couple of years.

“Each series is series by series. But I have just turned 30. Binga[Brett Lee] played into his mid-30s. Starcy[Mitchell Starc] and Josh[Hazlewood] are three or four years older than me and they are still pretty fit. So we’ll see how we go.”

Cummins winning the man of the match award on his Test debut,against South Africa in 2011.

Cummins winning the man of the match award on his Test debut,against South Africa in 2011.Credit:Getty Images

Despite his brilliant figures,Cummins believes the number of Tests played is a crucial marker for any player.

“Longevity I always look at as as big an achievement as average or strike rates or anything to do with performance,” Cummins said. “Test cricket is tough. You play all around the world,different conditions. Physically,it is demanding.

“So as a fast bowler to play 50,it is something to be pretty proud of. Particularly because for five or six years it felt like one more Test match was a long way away.”

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Cummins made a spectacular debut as an 18-year-old in South Africa during 2011,claiming 6-79 in the second innings and hitting the winning runs for a dramatic two-wicket victory chasing more than 300 in Johannesburg.

For years he felt like his first Test might be his last as he was cruelled by a series of stress fractures.

“I thought getting back into Test cricket was so far away for a lot of that,” he said. “I felt that maybe I could play a T20 or one-day cricket,but my body,after 10 overs a day,I would wake up and felt like I had a car crash.”

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