"He is absolutely drained" - David Lloyd on whether Pat Cummins should be replaced as captain

Former England cricketer David Lloyd feels Pat Cummins just had a bad game and that there shouldn't be too much deliberation about his future as a Test captain.

Cummins seemed to be struggling to make tough decisions during the Manchester Test. This has led to some voices in the cricketing fraternity contemplating whether Cummins should be rested for the fifth Test at the Oval and relieved of his captaincy duties given how physically taxing it could be for a fast bowler to play all games.

However, speaking to SEN Breakfast radio on Monday, David Lloyd explained why Pat Cummins and co. should just look at the Manchester Test as a poor outing and move on without changing anything. He said:

"He (Cummins) is absolutely drained, I can tell you that. There is nothing in the tank. But, equally, if I'm the coach of the team I'd be looking to protect him. I'd say, 'OK, we've had a poor game, a real bad game, which can happen to any team, and we start again - the slate is clean.' I wouldn't jettison a captain (in) because he's had a bad game and the team has had a bad game, I just wouldn't do that."

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David Lloyd on whether England declared too late in Manchester

There has been a lot of talk about why England needed to declare earlier on Day 3 if they knew the forecast for the last two days was pretty poor. However, David Lloyd felt that the hosts did nothing wrong by piling more misery on the Aussies as the latter seemed to be down and out.

On this, he stated:

"They were absolutely on their knees, Australia. Arms flying everywhere, not a clue as to who is captaining the side. Certainly the captain went AWOL. You can't predict the weather. We've had a shocking day."

With the Ashes already having slipped from their grasp, England will hope that they deny Australia their first Ashes series win since 2001 on their soil by beating them at The Oval.