Pat Cummins appeals against South Africa in 2011, his only Test match to date.

Fast bowler Mohammad Zahid was one of the fastest bowlers of the modern era but after taking 11 wickets on his Test debut played just five Tests in five years, broke down with a back injury and was never heard of again.

Had he been Australian, Zahid would probably have been cuddled and cajoled back to full fitness like Cummins.

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But in Pakistan, where it’s more every man for himself, time and patience just ran out.

Australia’s cricketers have many whinges about Cricket Australia – some of them genuine – but they should be forever grateful about the system which nurtures them.

No other country could have produced the Cummins story.

Australia will be hoping their investment in Pat Cummins finally reaps rewards.Source:AAP

Since his lone Test match against South Africa when he took seven wickets at their beloved Johannesburg, Cummins has sustained a string of injuries which has meant he has barely been seen in red ball cricket.

During that time, he has been paid a seven-figure total in injury payments and, for a while, one commentator used to quip he was Australia’s highest paid university student.

But the patience has been worth it, because he is so good.

Cummins’ pace and fire is outstanding and, just to enhance the package, there are plenty of people who will tell you they believe he is the nicest cricketer they have met.

If it all clicks – and that’s no certainty – Cummins could become a new poster boy of Australian cricket. If he breaks down again Australia will simply keep trying.

Cummins has the debonair charm of Brett Lee but a spoonful of extra potency, because his work is delivered from a greater height which ensures extra bounce and menace.

All this is possible because modern cricketers are looked after far better than they used to be.

Fast bowling great Dennis Lillee recently released a book in which he revealed he was so exasperated at having to pay for his own physio appointments, he got Richie Benaud to draft a letter to the Australian Cricket Board asking for help.

Pat Cummins appeals against South Africa in 2011, his only Test match to date.Source:AP

“It’s hard for people of this era to remember how much it was an amateur game, and it had been for 100 years,” Lillee said recently.

“You played and it was just purely for the love of the game – a lot of sacrifices had to be made, including those things like going and organising your own physio and stuff like that because they didn’t have physios at the ground, it was just a rubber.’’

Playing Cummins against India on Thursday may seem a gamble, but the time has come to see what he’s got.

Australia’s selectors wanted to unleash him for half a Shield game at the Gabba for NSW against Queensland this season, before Doug Bollinger stepped in to replace Mitchell Starc.

It is time to tear off the cotton wool and see what lies beneath.

Hopefully for Australia that will be the same bowler who carved up South Africa in their own backyard.

Originally published as Cummins comeback uniquely Australian