Australian captain Pat Cummins remains hopeful of being fit for the first Test of the upcoming Ashes series against England. The right-arm pacer has been battling a back injury in recent weeks and is yet to resume bowling at training ahead of the opening Test of the summer, set to begin in Perth on November 21.
While Cummins acknowledged that he is in a race against time to be ready for the first ICC World Test Championship clash against England, he still believes he has an outside chance of taking
the field.
"I'd say probably less likely than likely, but we've still got a bit of time," Cummins said as quoted by ICC.
"I'm running today and running kind of every second day, and each runs a little bit longer, and then we get into bowling prep next week. So, I'm probably a couple of weeks away before actually putting on the spikes and bowling out on the turf. But it's been a good couple of weeks. Each session feels better and better,” he added.
Cummins knows he will need to make a swift return to bowling at training if he hopes to feature in the series opener in Perth.
"You'd probably want at least a month in the nets. If you are to play in a Test match, you want to make sure you are right to bowl 20 overs in a day and you don't have to think about it. Four weeks is pretty tight, but I think somewhere around that mark,” said Cummins.
Cummins believes his back injury will not pose a major long-term concern, and he remains determined to play in as many Ashes Tests as possible while also leading Australia at next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
"It's a back injury that I haven't had for about seven or eight years, and I've played a lot of cricket between that. So, if anything, looking back when I was, say, 20 years old and I had this injury, I was a bit worried about what my body could actually handle. But I know in myself that if I get it right, do it properly, when I come back I shouldn't have to worry about it all. And hopefully I can play as much, even more cricket than I had previously in the last few years,” Cummins concluded.
