Australia have decided not to risk their Test captain Pat Cummins for the last two Test matches against England, having already retained the Ashes. They are now weighing up options for him to feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Cummins played only one Test, in Adelaide, in the series after recovering from the back injury.
He missed the first two matches in Perth and Brisbane but Australia won both matches and when he returned in Adelaide, the hosts sealed the contest with an unassailable 3-0 lead. Cummins led from the front in his comeback Test, picking up six wickets and had also stated that it is unlikely for him to feature in Melbourne in the Boxing Day Test.
But Australia head coach Andrew McDonald told reporters today that they have decided to put the 32-year-old on ice for the rest of the series as they have already emphatically retained the Ashes. "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. Everything went really smoothly, and full credit to him, the medical team and to navigate through that risk profile, to get him back and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing for everyone associated with that," McDonald said.
Starc and Boland expected to play
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc will feature in his fourth consecutive Test match, even as his other bowling teammates are falling around him. Apart from Cummins, even Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon have been ruled out of the Ashes. The left-arm fast bowler has led from the front for the hosts, picking up 22 wickets at 17.04.
Moreover, Scott Boland is suffering from a hip niggle but is expected to get fit in time for the Boxing Day Test. Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson are the other fast bowlers in the Australia squad for the fourth Test.
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