BRISBANE:&nbsp;Australia captain Pat Cummins said he will be &quot;good to go&quot; for the third Ashes Test after missing the first two with a back injury, in more bad news for struggling England. The 32-year-old pace spearhead has not played since picking up the issue against the West Indies mid-year. Selectors flirted with including him for the second Test at Brisbane, but erred on the side of caution. &ldquo;First of all, yeah, I should be right for Adelaide,&rdquo; Cummins said on Fox Sports, referring to the third Test that starts on December 17. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have one more bowl (on Sunday), and then we&#39;ll go to Adelaide and have another bowl there. &lsquo;Good to go&rsquo;&ldquo;So, barring any hiccups, I&#39;ll be good to go. Body feels great.&rdquo; Asked how close he was to playing in Brisbane, Cummins said: &ldquo;Relatively close, really. &ldquo;We thought it didn&#39;t feel like the right Test match to take that risk, so kick it down the road for a week.&rdquo; Australia have also been without fellow quick Josh Hazlewood for the first two Tests and the news from him was less encouraging. Achilles sorenessHe was back bowling after tweaking a hamstring six days before the opening Test in Perth, but reported Achilles soreness this week. Cricket Australia told local media it was a &ldquo;low-grade&rdquo; issue, but it casts further doubt over whether he will play any part in the five-Test series. In Cummins and Hazlewood&rsquo;s absence, Mitchell Starc has led the attack, taking 10 wickets in Australia&#39;s crushing eight-wicket win at Perth and another six in England&#39;s first innings at Brisbane. He has been ably supported by Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett, and Michael Neser.

Cricket

The 32-year-old pace spearhead has not played since picking up the issue against the West Indies mid-year; selectors flirted with including him for the second Test at Brisbane, but erred on the side of caution.

Ashes: Australia skipper Cummins ‘good to go’ for Adelaide Test

PERTH: Arch-rivals Australia and England resume Ashes hostilities on Friday in Perth with the hosts weakened by injuries but favorites to inflict more pain on a side with a dire record Down Under. The highly anticipated five-Test series gets under way on a fast, bouncy track at a sold-out Perth Stadium and with Ben Stokes&#39;s visitors insisting they are not scarred by past failures. It has been 15 years since England last clinched an away Ashes series and since then they have failed to win a Test on Australian soil, losing 13 and drawing two.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/99327356-4019-43b9-9eb1-d6cff6a85984-Untitled(8).jpg" alt="Untitled(8).jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 823px; height: 463.349px;"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">PERTH: England&rsquo;s Ben Stokes warms up during a practice session at Optus Stadium in Perth on November 19, 2025, ahead of the first Ashes cricket Test match between Australia and England. -- Photo by AFP</figcaption></figure> This time they touched down on the back of a thumping 3-0 one-day defeat in New Zealand and criticism over scheduling -- just a single three-day red-ball warm-up on a docile pitch. &lsquo;Going to be tough&rsquo;&nbsp;Skipper Stokes said they were starting with a clean slate, despite their miserable record in Australia. &quot;They&#39;re a phenomenal team, especially in their home, so we know the next two-and-a-half months is going to be tough for us,&quot; he said. &quot;All the series that have gone past, whether that be in Australia or England, I don&#39;t think count for much.&quot; There may never be a better chance to snap the long winless streak with the hosts&#39; pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood injured and out of at least the first Test. Opening match&nbsp;Former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said their absence &quot;starts to rewrite the whole script for the Ashes&quot;.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/02615050-b635-44b4-badd-f41300026a8d-Starc.jpg" alt="Starc.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 854px; height: 480.802px;"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">PERTH: Australia&rsquo;s Mitchell Starc speaks during a press conference at Optus Stadium in Perth on November 19, 2025, ahead of the first Ashes cricket Test match between Australia and England. -- Photo by AFP</figcaption></figure> &quot;It narrows Australia&#39;s margin for error and it forces selectors into decisions they&#39;d hoped they wouldn&#39;t have to make this early,&quot; he added. At least England have been spared an opening match in Brisbane, where they have won just twice since World War II. The Gabba will instead host the day-night second Test before the series moves to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Speed over swing&nbsp;</h2>England are relying heavily on their own cartel of express pacemen led by Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue, with Shoaib Bashir the only recognized spinner. But it is a gamble, with Wood the only one to have experienced Test cricket in Australian conditions and he has barely played since knee surgery earlier this year. Alongside Scott Boland, wily campaigner Mitchell Starc will shoulder the hosts&#39; attack with Cummins and Hazlewood out, with Nathan Lyon the spin option and seamer Brendan Doggett tipped to make his debut. Former Australia captain Greg Chappell said in a newspaper column that the Ashes would be decided by the superior fast bowling unit. &lsquo;History is unequivocal&rsquo;&ldquo;History is unequivocal -- to win in these vast, sun-baked arenas, you need express pace bowlers who can intimidate, extract bounce, and shatter partnerships on pitches that reward raw speed over subtle swing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If England&#39;s attack fires and dismantles Australia&#39;s batting order, the McCullum-Stokes masterplan will have them join the list of successful English leaders in Australia.&rdquo; But he cautioned against England employing the ultra-aggressive &ldquo;Bazball&rdquo; cricket favoured by the captain and coach Brendon McCullum. &ldquo;Their incendiary style might work on the small grounds in England on pitches prepared to be as flat as one-day pitches,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it won&#39;t be as easy to throw caution to the wind on the bigger grounds and more bowler-friendly pitches here.&rdquo; <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Top-order worries&nbsp;</h2>A lot of England&#39;s hopes rest on the shoulders of Joe Root and Harry Brook, ranked as the world&rsquo;s top two Test batsmen. Brook has never played a Test in Australia while Root has failed to score a century in his 27 innings Down Under where he averages 35.68, well below his career average of 51.29. Australia will similarly be relying on Steve Smith to be in the runs. The 36-year-old, who will be captain in Perth, has plundered 18 of his 36 Test tons on home soil, averaging a formidable 59.70. Sixth opening partner&nbsp;&ldquo;If Smith gets on a roll and he starts scoring runs, it&rsquo;s going to be a challenge for England,&rdquo; his long-time former team-mate David Warner warned. Australia&rsquo;s batting vulnerability is at the top, with an ageing Usman Khawaja potentially padding up with a sixth opening partner since Warner retired early last year. The latest candidate is left-hander Jake Weatherald, the leading run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield last season but with no experience of the Test cauldron.

The five-Test series gets under way at a sold-out Perth Stadium and with Ben Stokes's visitors insisting they are not scarred by past failures; it has been 15 years since England last clinched an away Ashes series.

England face daunting task to break Ashes drought in Australia

SYDNEY: Pat Cummins has conceded he&#39;s a doubtful starter for Australia&#39;s Ashes series opener against England in Perth next month.&nbsp;&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t put a percentage on it, but I&rsquo;d say probably less likely than likely,&rdquo; the pace bowler told domestic media Monday. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve still got a bit of time.&rdquo;&nbsp;The Australia captain has been sidelined for three months with a back stress injury, and speculation has mounted in recent weeks that he&#39;d miss at least the first test, and likely more, of the biggest test cricket series on the 2025 calendar.&nbsp;Cummins said he&#39;s back into physical training and &quot;each session feels better and better.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;We get into slight bowling prep, I think next week,&quot; he said. &quot;I&rsquo;m probably a couple of weeks away before I actually put on these spikes and bowl on the turf.&quot;&nbsp;The five-test series starts Nov. 21 in Perth, followed by a day-night test in Brisbane from Dec. 4, before the series moves to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.&nbsp;The 32-year-old Cummins has not bowled since Australia&#39;s 3-0 series sweep of the West Indies in the Caribbean in July.&nbsp;&ldquo;The immediate goal is to make sure I&rsquo;m giving myself a chance to be right for as much of (the series) as possible,&rdquo; Cummins said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really too early to kind of make some big decisions.&nbsp;&ldquo;With these things, it&rsquo;s pretty hard to go from not bowling or anything at all to suddenly playing five tests. The first step is trying to give us a shot at being (fit), and then we&rsquo;ll work it out a bit closer.&rdquo;&nbsp;Cummins said he wasn&#39;t in serious pain and was trying to increase his workload.&nbsp;&ldquo;A few of the symptoms hung around for a little bit longer than I would have liked,&quot; he said, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;re all gone now.&rdquo;&nbsp;If Cummins is ruled out, Scott Boland is likely to take his place in the pace attack that should include Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.&nbsp;Australia&#39;s white ball squad is preparing for a series of one-day and Twenty20 internationals against India starting Oct. 19.

Cummins says he's back into physical training and "each session feels better and better.”

Articles tagged with "Pat Cummins"

Ashes: Australia skipper Cummins ‘good to go’ for Adelaide Test

England face daunting task to break Ashes drought in Australia

Pat Cummins is doubtful for Ashes series opener against England