Pat Cummins joins Anil Kumble, Courtney Walsh in unique list with incredible record

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins on Wednesday recorded a five-wicket haul on Day 1 of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, and joined a unique list of bowlers to have achieved the feat as captains. Cummins is playing his first Test as the captain of Australia since Tim Paine stepped down from the role in November.

Cummins ended with figures of 5/38 in 13.1 overs as Australia made a dream start to the Ashes series, bowling England out on merely 147 in the first innings.

The paceman dismissed England's danger man Ben Stokes (5) cheaply in the morning, then grabbed another four victims after lunch.

Cummins led his team off the ground holding the Kookaburra ball aloft, enjoying a huge ovation from the Gabba crowd after his first five-wicket haul against the English.

Cummins became the first bowler since Afghanistan's Rashid Khan in 2019 to take a five-wicket haul in debut Test as captain. Rashid had achieved the feat against Bangladesh in Chattogram, where he took five-wicket hauls across both innings of the Test.

Overall, Cummins joins a list of elite bowler-captains to have taken a five-wicket haul that include India's Anil Kumble, West Indies' Courtney Walsh, New Zealand's Daniel Vettori among others. Earlier this year, Joe Root – the English captain – also achieved a five-wicket haul during a Test against India.

Earlier, England won the toss against Australia but the hosts made an electrifying start, thanks to Mitchell Starc's dismissal of Rory Burns in the first delivery of the innings.

England could never recover from the initial setback and were eventually bowled out in the second session.