Australia captain Pat Cummins is hopeful of starting to bowl again a month prior to the start of the home Ashes series.
Currently recovering from a back issue, Cummins has been sidelined from all forms of cricket until the Ashes later this year. The 32-year-old pacer, who had initially planned to play a few Sheffield Shield matches before the home summer, will not take part in the ODI series against India or the tour of New Zealand. While he was previously unsure about being fit for the first Test, he’s now optimistic about returning slightly earlier than anticipated.
“I’d imagine I’d want to be bowling at a minimum a month out, maybe six weeks,” Cummins said at a sponsor event on Wednesday. “But I’ve not thought that deeply about it yet. It’s still a bit of a wait-and-see. We’ve got plenty of time, so we’ll map out a return plan as we get closer. For now, over the next few weeks, it’s pretty light — not much running and zero bowling.”
Josh Hazlewood was sidelined for most of the previous home summer. He is injury-prone, as is Starc, and many of Australia’s fringe bowlers are also unavailable due to various injury concerns. While Australia’s bowling depth appears to be stretched, Cummins played down the worries.
“We feel really well placed. A lot of planning goes into this — not just a month before, but 12 months in advance. Someone like Jhye Richardson will hopefully be available for part of the summer,” he said.
“There’s (Michael) Neser, Brendan Doggett was part of squads last year, and Sean Abbott. So I’m really confident in our depth. Obviously, there’s some Shield and white-ball cricket before then to ensure everyone is match-ready.”
Australia will kick off their home summer in Perth, with the first Ashes Test set to begin on 21 November.
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