Australian skipper Pat Cummins has declared his fitness for the Adelaide Test, revealing the team’s ultimate reason for precaution in Brisbane.
The Aussies flirted with recalling the 32-year-old after a brisk recovery from his back injury, but Cummins spoke of not wanting to be “too cute” with team balance when it came to managing bowling loads.
Speaking during the second session on Day 3, Cummins confirmed on Fox Cricket that “barring any hiccups”, he’d make a return at Adelaide Oval on December 17.
Watch The Ashes 2025/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 >
“First of all, yeah, I should be right for Adelaide,” he said on Fox Cricket.
“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.”
Asked by commentator Mark Howard how close he was to playing in Brisbane, Cummins said: “Relatively close, really.
“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 skipper revealed 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 continued.
“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.”
Cummins reinforced the Gabba’s seam-friendly surface, speaking similarly to Steve Smith ahead of the first day of the second Test when speaking on conditions.
“One of the reasons you want to win the toss and have a bat is it gives you the chance to hopefully bowl in the night with a rock-hard ball, and maybe you can really pick and choose for the rest of the game where you can place your new-ball bowling to line it up with night-time,” he said.
Cummins later added: “It also feels, as a bowler, and I’m not sure if the data backs this up, but it swings a bit more here in Brisbane, whether it’s more humid conditions than Adelaide.”
Discussion about this post