Australia’s men’s chief selector George Bailey confirmed on Monday (January 19) that Pat Cummins is set to miss at least the first couple of games in the 2026 T20 World Cup. Cummins is yet to recover from his lumbar bone stress injury — essentially tiny cracks in his lower spine from the repeated strain of fast bowling — suffered before the 2025-26 Ashes series, which kept him out of four of the five Tests.
Cummins underwent an aggressive rehab during the Ashes and made a brief comeback in the third Test in Adelaide, starring with six wickets, but was ruled out of the remaining two games again. Earlier, Bailey had said that Australia were hoping to see Cummins return in time for the World Cup, which begins on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka,
but suggested it might be a case of joining late, like Travis Head at the 2023 World Cup.
He gave a more exact timeline while explaining why Cummins, alongside Josh Hazlewood and Tim David, were missing from Australia’s squad for the three-T20I series against Pakistan.
“[David] had a very minor setback (for hamstring injury recovery), I think last week, so didn’t quite get through a running session that he was hoping to, but has since been cleared of any damage,” Bailey said. “It was just, I think, on the back of a heavy week. So he’s still tracking for the start of the tournament. Josh is in the same boat and Pat’s a little bit different … he’ll probably join that World Cup group a little bit later in the tournament, around game three or four.”
He added that it was Australia’s preference to give Cummins, who has a long and unlucky history of back stress troubles, as much time as possible to recover from the injury.
“If we can, absolutely, that’s the plan,” Bailey said. “Clearly, if something moves and we’re forced to cover that, we will, but, yes, hopefully all things being equal, that’ll be how that one plays out.”
