In what could be a major blow for their Ashes 2025 bid, Australia are set to miss out on the services of captain and ace pacer Pat Cummins for the opening Ashes 2025 Test, starting November 21 in Perth.
The 32-year-old Cummins hasn’t bowled since mid-July—when he suffered a lumbar bone stress (back) injury during the away test series against the West Indies. With only over a month to go for the first fixture against Ben Stokes’ England, Cummins’ latest scan reveals that the injury is healing, but significant questions remain about whether Australia will risk rushing their captain’s recovery, according to Code Sports.
Cummins will be afforded as much time as possible to prove his fitness for the first Test in Perth, but a serious possibility remains that he could miss all five matches, with a return late in the series being the most optimistic result.
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor recently spoke on Cummins’ potential lack of preparation was going to be a ‘a bit of a worry.’
“Pat quite rightly is playing it down because he says he is going to play all five Test matches, but during the week he’s saying he’s not going to play any lead-up games,” Taylor said on Wide World of Sports.
“Well, that’s a worry in itself, he’s got a hot spot in his back, how does he test it out?
“I know he’ll do nets and workouts in the gym, but the game itself is where you find that extra yard, that extra bit of adrenaline kicks in, it’ll be interesting to see how he goes.”
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Aussie pace legend Brett Lee recently told news.com.au that Cummins must be 100 per cent fit before playing, even if it means missing multiple Ashes Tests.
“You sort of don’t want your premier fast bowler, captain of the Australian cricket team, to be missing any cricket,” Lee said.
“He’s better off waiting until he is 100 per cent fit because what they don’t want to do is play him in the first Test, 90 or 80 per cent fit, and he goes and injures his back again. Then he’s buggered for the whole summer,” Lee added.
