Australian captain Pat Cummins is confident about returning for the upcoming third Ashes Test in Adelaide. Cummins also shared how close he was to playing in Brisbane against England.
The 32-year-old Cummins was ruled out of the first two Test matches against Ben Stokes-led England in the ongoing Ashes as he couldn’t recover from his back injury in time.
After missing the first two games, Cummins was seen bowling at the nets in Brisbane. He had lengthy sessions and, speaking to Fox Cricket during the second session on Day 3 of the Brisbane Test, confirmed that he would return for the third Test at Adelaide Oval, starting on December 17.
Cummins said, “First of all, yeah, I should be right for Adelaide. So, I’ll have one more bowl tomorrow (Sunday),
and then we’ll go to Adelaide and have another bowl there. So, barring any hiccups, I’ll be good to go. Body feels great”
He also revealed how close he was to playing in the second Test in Brisbane, stating, “Relatively close, really.”
Is Cummins Fit To Play?
Cummins continued, “Body feels great, I’m bowling at 100 per cent. The big question mark when coming back from a bone injury is we tend to have a bowl and have a couple of days off, recover, bowl, bowl. I haven’t done back-to-back bowls, so one of the high-risk things going into a Test match is you’re going to be expected to bowl two days in a row, maybe three days in a row, and potentially quite a few overs..”
The Australian speedster also explained the deciding factor in not making an earlier return. “So, we felt that (not doing back-to-back bowls yet) was too risky; we started to kind of game plan (for reduced overs) — could we try and maybe bowl 20 overs, 25 overs with ‘Greeny’ in the side as an all-rounder?” Cummins said.
“We feel like we’ve got lots of bowling. So, we really tried to map out a way where I could play, but it just felt a little bit too cute in the end. And it didn’t really feel fair on the other bowlers, or even on myself as a captain. If I had to have a bowler that I was bowling and trying to work out which overs, it didn’t quite feel right. It didn’t feel like the right Test match to take that risk,” the Australian captain added.
Australia lead the five-match Ashes series 1-0. They won the opening Test in Perth by eight wickets, with Travis Head scoring a match-winning century while chasing a target of 205 runs against England.
(With inputs from Agencies)
