Pat Cummins expected to miss first Ashes Test as doubts grow over fitness for entire series

Australia captain Pat Cummins is expected to miss the Ashes opener in Perth as doubts grow around his availability for the entire Test series against England.

Cummins has been sidelined with a back injury that the latest scan revealed has not yet healed.

While the scan showed improvement with his back stress issue, Cummins is not ready to resume bowling just six weeks out from the first Ashes Test starting on 21 November.

The 32-year-old was ruled out of Australia’s recent white-ball series against South Africa and New Zealand, and will sit out the upcoming ODIs and T20s against India.

Cricket Australia declined to comment on Cummins’ fitness and has not ruled out the fast bowler from the first Test as he continues to work through his rehabilitation.

Cummins last played in the 3-0 Test series sweep of West Indies in July and his absence would be a huge blow to Australia’s hopes of retaining the Ashes that they have held since 2018.

Scott Boland is likely to take Cummins’ place in the pace attack alongside Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood after the evergreen quick took a hat-trick in his most recent Test for Australia in the Caribbean.

Steve Smith will almost certainly stand in as skipper if Cummins is unavailable to face England, having led the side several times since the star quick was appointed Test captain in November 2021.

The fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney will begin on 4 January, leaving Cummins with little time to slot back into the Australia XI if he is to miss the start of the series.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald backed Cummins to play a part in the five-Test series against England when speaking on SEN radio last month.

“It’s not ideal … he is working through a program. It was a routine scan on the back of the West Indies [tour], he does have a lumbar bone stress issue there, so he will just work through what his return to play looks like,” McDonald said in September.

“We have got time. If it happened any closer [to the Ashes] then you would have to be making key decisions around what it all looks like. But we have got time, a lot more information to come, and as I said, we’re really hopeful that he will take a key part in the Ashes.”

[Source: The Guardian]