{"id":253753,"date":"2022-11-29T03:38:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T04:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=253753"},"modified":"2022-11-30T05:59:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T05:59:35","slug":"cummins-speaks-out-over-cowards-allegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=253753","title":{"rendered":"Cummins speaks out over 'cowards' allegation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffustralian Test captain Pat Cummins<\/a> has laughed off suggestions he is "too woke" and should "stick to cricket".<\/p>\n

Cummins was peppered with tricky questions when he fronted the media in Perth on Tuesday on the eve of the season's opening Test.<\/p>\n

The Aussies take on the West Indies from Wednesday, but the build-up to the summer has been largely hijacked by former national men's coach Justin Langer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> $140m Smith 'mess' exposes golf's giant problem\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cummins unveils Australia's first Test team of summer\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Indian batter stuns with record-breaking over<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffLanger – who declined a six-month contract extension and exited the job in February – last week went on a podcast in Western Australia and lambasted "cowards" who he claims leaked stories about him to media during his time as head coach.<\/p>\n

He named Cummins specifically, alleging the then-vice captain approached him to outline concerns but only after Langer had already read and heard them in reports.<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/p>\n

\ufeffLanger later clarified he was not referring to any of the players when he used the term cowards.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Cummins had his chance to respond to the latest saga involving his former coach.<\/p>\n

"We would always like to talk about the cricket. There's so many good things going on with this Test team, No.1 in the world at the moment, we've had a fantastic 12 months," Cummins said.<\/p>\n

"I think there's so many good stories around the week. It's disappointing I guess that the focus gets drawn to off-field issues, but it hasn't really affected our team.<\/p>\n

"There are no cowards in the Australian cricket team, not ever. So thanks Justin for clarifying his remarks afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"Tubby's<\/p>\n

"I think he had a think about it and clarified it, so I thank him for that.<\/p>\n

"We're really proud of the last 12 months, how we've fronted up, the way we've played, the way we've conducted ourselves. The players can certainly hold our heads high.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Cummins was asked whether he was disappointed Langer had essentially divulged a private conversation on a podcast.<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't ever disclose private conversations… you would have to ask Justin," Cummins said.<\/p>\n

"There was no ill-will to what he was trying to do, and he clarified afterwards.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

One journalist asked Cummins about allegations he is "too woke" given the social issues the captain – who was appointed this time last year – is shining a light on in his role.<\/p>\n

\"Cummins<\/p>\n

Reports emerged last month Cummins had requested Cricket Australia end a partnership with Alinta Energy<\/a> in a move to support climate action. Cummins and Cricket Australia have since denied any such conversation took place.<\/p>\n

The Test team will also take a knee for the first time on Wednesday in solidarity with the West Indies to support the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n

"I think in this position you're always going to upset people, whether you do something or you don't do something," Cummins said.<\/p>\n

"I know what I signed up for. I also think we're cricket players, but you can't leave your values at the door. People stand for different things.<\/p>\n

"Something like taking a knee this week, we're doing it out of respect for the West Indies in support of equality.<\/p>\n

"Anyone who says that's a bad thing, I'm not too bothered about.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffustralian Test captain Pat Cummins has laughed off suggestions he is "too woke" and should "stick to cricket". Cummins was peppered with tricky questions when […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=253753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253755,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253753\/revisions\/253755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=253753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=253753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=253753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}