Why is Pat Cummins not playing in 4th Ashes Test for Australia vs England at MCG?

Melbourne:

The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England, the Boxing Day Test, got underway today at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). However, many were surprised when Steve Smith walked out for the toss and not Australia's regular captain, Pat Cummins. The fast bowler had made his comeback after five months in the previous Test played in Adelaide and also picked up six wickets across two innings.

The reason for Cummins not playing is that the Ashes is already retained as Australia went 3-0 up with a massive win in Adelaide. Moreover, Cummins had already conceded after the third Test that it would be too much of a workload for his back to play in the Boxing Day Test. "We'll work it out over the next couple of days, I doubt I'll be playing Melbourne, and then we'll have a chat about Sydney," Cummins had said.

However, in a couple of days, Australia's head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed that Cummins had been ruled out of the final two Ashes Test as the hosts do not want to risk aggravating his back, with Ashes retained. "He won't play any part in the rest of the series. That was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return. Yeah, we were taking on some risk. We've now won the series, and that was the goal. To position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do.

"Pat's really comfortable with that. If he had any setback in the build-in as well, we would have shut him down straight away," McDonald said while speaking to reporters earlier this week.

Jhye Richardson returns for his first Test in four years

Jhye Richardson has returned for Australia for the first time in four years as the hosts made three changes from the previous game. Michael Neser and Steve Smith also returned to the playing XI for this match as Nathan Lyon missed out due to injury while Josh Inglis was left out. 

Playing XIs

England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue

Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

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