Australia Test captain Pat Cummins was confirmed on Monday to be ruled out of the first Test of the upcoming Ashes 2025 series at home. Cummins, who is still recovering from a lumbar stress injury, is yet to return to bowling with less than a month to go for the series opener against England in Perth on November 21.
In Cummins’ absence, Steve Smith was confirmed to step up as captain for the opening game. The second Test in Brisbane, beginning on December 4, may also be out of reach for Cummins.
Smith is set to step up as captain for Australia, having successfully led the team in five out of six matches since 2021 as Pat Cummins’ deputy. One of those wins came during the 2021-22 Ashes in Adelaide when Cummins was sidelined as a COVID-19 close contact. With Cummins out of the attack for the first Test, Scott Boland is highly likely to retain his spot. Boland’s inclusion comes after his recent hat-trick against the West Indies. The final Australian squad for the first Test will be announced next week, after the third round of Sheffield Shield matches that starts Tuesday.
Ran out of time
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald told reporter on Monday that the team ran out of time with the skipper’s situation but confirmed that Cummins will resume bowling shortly.
“We’ve grappled with it for a little while. The nature of the injury is that you never know and you’re sort of taking it a day by day.
“We’ve run out of time. We flagged this a week or so ago that it will take four-plus weeks to get him up and running. We’ve run out of time unfortunately, but really optimistic and hopeful for the second Test match.
“He’ll be back bowling this week, and that’s a huge step. That was the big variable that we wanted to add in. We’re on the journey to that that second Test match, and very hopeful that that will be a positive outcome.”
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Zampa out of India T20I series
Cricket Australia also confirmed that leg-spinner Adam Zampa was ruled out of the T20I series against India, starting Wednesday.
“Tanveer Sangha has been added to the T20 squad for the BKT Tyres T20 International Series against India. Sangha replaces Adam Zampa who will miss the start of the series for personal reasons,” a CA statement read.
