Australia captain Pat Cummins has admitted he might be “aggressive” to prove his fitness from a back injury for the start of the Ashes.
Cummins will miss upcoming white-ball series against New Zealand and India due to lumbar bone stress. Although chair of selectors George Bailey expects Cummins to lead Australia out for the Ashes opener in Perth on November 21, there are no guarantees.
Speaking for the first time since the extent of his injury was revealed, Cummins wants to avoid watching the highly anticipated series from the sidelines.
“That would be devastating, so we’ll be doing everything we can to try to be right for that and try to make a few decisions a little bit closer, but confident” Cummins told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday. “Do the rehab right and give it a good crack.
“It’s a big Ashes series. It doesn’t get much bigger, so I think you’re willing to take a few risks and be a little bit aggressive to try and play as much Test [cricket] as you can.”
Echoing Bailey’s comments from Tuesday, Cummins backed himself to be able to prepare for the first Test without any match practice.
“At this stage of my career I feel like I can probably get up to speed a bit quicker than when I was 18 or 19,” he said. “Back then you probably feel like you need to play a few [Sheffield] Shield games or one-dayers. I’m pretty confident even if I don’t get a chance to play a Shield game, I’ll can get up to speed.”
Cummins pulled up sore following Australia’s 3-0 demolition of the West Indies in July, despite only bowling a combined 60 overs across the three Tests.
“Gave it kind of another month [after the tour], have had a pretty quiet month to help settle it down and had another scan on Monday which [was] not terrible, but kind of enough to know that there’s a little bit there and kind of got to be careful for the next little bit,” Cummins said.
“It doesn’t feel too bad, but I’m obviously not bowling or doing too much at the moment. With bone injuries, you really just want to settle it down.
“I’m still doing a bit of gym, but no real running, no bowling. Get that right and then we’ll build up to the summer. We’ve got loads of time, there’s about 12 weeks until the first Test. We’ll see how the next little bit pans out.”
If Cummins isn’t fit, Australia have captaincy and bowling options to cover him. Scott Boland would almost certainly be called into the pace attack after spectacularly taking a hat-trick in Australia’s previous Test against West Indies in July.
“We always talk about we need a lot of depth,” Cummins said. “We’ve been lucky in the last couple of years. We kind of haven’t had to go past the four guys really, but guys like Sean Abbott…Doggy [Brendan Doggett], there’s about four or five guys. Ness [Michael Neser] has obviously been around, Jhye Richardson.
“There’s guys who have been in and around the Test team over the last few years and haven’t had too many opportunities, but we know they’re going to be good enough if they’re needed. But hopefully the other three are going to be fighting fit, plus me, and we’ve got plenty of resources.”
Former skipper Steven Smith has also covered for Cummins numerous times since he became Test captain in November 2021.
ESPN Cricinfo
