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Tim Paine has heaped praise on his star bowler Pat Cummins after the paceman demolished Sri Lanka at the Gabba, while also pointing out the future looks bright thanks to the side's latest recruits.
Australia demolished Sri Lanka by an innings and 40 runs in Brisbane, thanks to an improved batting performance and brilliant bowling from Cummins.
The Australian captain acknowledged his batsmen could be doing better, but said with Steve Smith and David Warner set to return, and plenty of depth in the bowling stocks, the team could only improve in the months ahead.
The newcomers in the Australian XI all looked comfortable at Test level and put in solid performances, albeit on a Gabba wicket that traditionally favours the home team.
Marnus Labuschagne scored 81 in his fourth go at Test cricket, while Kurtis Patterson made a solid 30 and shone in the field.
Travis Head notched the highest Australian score of the summer with 84, and Jhye Richardson offered spark and excellent support for Cummins with his swinging pace.
"The way Marnus played, under some real pressure with a couple of wickets falling early in the morning — I thought him and Travis, for two young guys ... put us in a really strong position in the game," Paine said.
"Then Jhye in his first Test match was outstanding.
"He's bowled that way for Western Australia the whole season and I think our selectors made a good call of getting him in while he's in really good form.
"Same with Kurtis Patterson — and it paid dividends."
Cummins 'was just relentless'
The jewel in the crown of this Australian side at present is Cummins, who ripped through the Sri Lankan order to ensure the win was a comfortable one, taking 6-23 in the second innings to end up with 10 wickets for the match.
The Australian captain said while Cummins bowled well against India, he had stepped up his game at the Gabba.
"If Pat Cummins bowls like he bowled in this Test match against anyone, he's going to take wickets.
"I thought he was just relentless with his line and length," Paine said.
"He gave them absolutely nothing to hit until right at the end when he was a little bit tired, searching for another wicket.
"I thought him and Jhye in particular, their discipline and their ability to just keep hitting the spot and wearing them down was outstanding," he said.
Depth looking promising ahead of Ashes: Paine
Careful not to get ahead of himself so soon after a 2-1 home loss against India, and admitting the team was "nowhere near the finished product", Paine was optimistic about the options available to selectors for the Ashes.
"I think what we're seeing in the last 12 months is we're developing depth in all our areas.
"Not only with the ball when we go to England, there's guys around the country that are bowling well, [Chris] Tremain and [Daniel] Worrall and [Peter] Siddle that can swing the ball, to compliment Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc, and Jhye Richardson.
"You've got James Pattinson. You've got plenty of options there.
"Outside of [bowling] into our batting, when [Steve] Smith and [David] Warner are back on the scene and [Cameron] Bancroft, all of a sudden you've got a number of batters, after the way Head and Marnus are playing, you've got [Matthew] Renshaw and [Will] Pucovski on the scene as well.
"We're building a real depth of talent in all of our areas.
"I think we're building quite nicely to having a really well-rounded squad of 15, 16 players in the next 12 months, which is a great place for us to be."
Topics: cricket, sport, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
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