Australia’s captain Pat Cummins is set to miss the start of the Ashes and may miss the whole series after a fresh round of scans revealed his back stress problem had not yet healed.
Cummins, who had previously expressed confidence that he would be able to take a significant part in the series, is no chance for the opener in Perth, starting on November 21, and may even miss all five Tests, leaving Steve Smith as the likely stand-in skipper to face Ben Stokes’ England team.
According to two sources with knowledge of confidential discussions but not authorised to speak publicly, 32-year-old Cummins had the update scan late last week to clarify his progress ahead of the Test summer and was told that while the stress “hot spot” was healing, it has not yet cleared up enough for him to bowl.
The update will likely set back his return to play to the last few weeks of the year, making it very hard for him to get up to speed in time to take part in a tightly scheduled Ashes series. Cricket Australia declined to comment.
A best-case scenario for Cummins may be that he returns to the team at the back end of the Ashes, much as Scott Boland has reinforced the pace battery in recent summers. Boland now looks certain to be the third quick in Perth behind Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
Very happy he is out of the team. Now remove Usman and away we go.