Ashes 2025: Hazlewood Misses Second Test, Cummins Close to Comeback

Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood won’t be playing in the second Ashes Test against England in Brisbane, but there’s hope he will return later in the series. Pat Cummins is also getting closer to a comeback and could rejoin the team as soon as next week at the Gabba.

Hazlewood missed the first Test in Perth after pulling his hamstring in a Sheffield Shield game. Scans didn’t show any serious damage, but he was still not ready to play. He is expected to join the team in Brisbane and continue his recovery there. Coach Andrew McDonald is confident that Hazlewood will be ready to play in the upcoming matches.

"He's working through the first week of his rehab. I'm not sure that we need to give an update on that. Once he gets further down the track and [we] have some rough timelines, then we'll be in a position to communicate that. I know that he'll be available at some point during the series. We've got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series,” said McDonald as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

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Josh Hazlewood Bowler

It won't be wrong to define Josh Hazlewood as the modern day adaptation of the legendary Glenn McGrath.

Hazlewood Out for Brisbane Test, Cummins’ Participation Uncertain

The quick two-day finish to the opening Test has led to a small change in Pat Cummins’ bowling schedule. He had been doing well in training before the match and was originally set to bowl on the fourth day of the Test on Monday. But after returning home to Sydney, that session has been pushed back by a day.

Even with this change, things still look positive for Australia’s captain. McDonald mentioned that the decision on whether the New South Wales bowler will play in the day-night Test in Brisbane might not be made until later. If Cummins does play, and the second Test runs the full five days, which seems unlikely given the quick finish in Perth, there would be an eight-day gap before the third Test in Adelaide.

"Once we see him again we'll be able to then join the dots as to what that potentially looks like. But for those who saw him in Perth, I did say this a while back that he'll be up and bowling...and people will be sitting there questioning why he's not playing,” said McDonald.

"It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation. The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There's a lot of positives, but now it's just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we're not putting him in harm's way in terms of accelerating it too much. But it will be a genuine discussion leading into this Test match. That may be one that eventuates late for us. A little bit to work through but it's nearing completion, which is really, really positive,” he added.

The second Test will start on December 4 at the Gabba in Brisbane and will be played with a pink ball.

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by Dwijesh November 24, 2025