“I’m Willing to Take Risks to Play the Ashes”: Pat Cummins Confident Ahead of Ashes Despite Back Injury

Australia captain Pat Cummins has admitted he may push himself harder to prove his fitness ahead of the Ashes, after a back injury. He will miss the upcoming white-ball series against New Zealand and India due to lumbar bone stress. While selectors’ chair George Bailey expects him to lead Australia in the Ashes opener in Perth on November 21, nothing is certain yet.

According to ESPNCricinfo, speaking for the first time since his injury was revealed, Cummins said he doesn’t want to watch the Ashes from the sidelines.

The Australian captain is willing to take extra risks to be part of the series, even while injured. His comments suggest he doesn’t want to follow India’s approach with Jasprit Bumrah managed his workload by playing only three out of five Tests against England after a back injury in January. Cummins has made it clear he is ready to play all matches if needed.

"That would be devastating, so we'll be doing everything we can to try to be right for that and try to make a few decisions a little bit closer, but confident. Do the rehab right and give it a good crack." Cummins told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.

"It's a big Ashes series. It doesn't get much bigger, so I think you're willing to take a few risks and be a little bit aggressive to try and play as much Test [cricket] as you can." Cummins added.

Echoing Bailey’s comments, Cummins said he’s confident he can prepare for the first Ashes Test without any match practice.

“At this stage of my career, I feel I can get up to speed quicker than when I was 18 or 19,” he said. “Back then, you probably needed a few Sheffield Shield games or one-dayers. I’m pretty confident that even if I don’t play a Shield game, I can still get ready.” Cummins had felt some soreness after Australia’s 3-0 series win over the West Indies in July, despite bowling only 60 overs across the three Tests.

"Gave it kind of another month [after the tour], have had a pretty quiet month to help settle it down and had another scan on Monday which [was] not terrible, but kind of enough to know that there's a little bit there and kind of got to be careful for the next little bit," Cummins said.

"It doesn't feel too bad, but I'm obviously not bowling or doing too much at the moment. With bone injuries, you really just want to settle it down. I'm still doing a bit of gym, but no real running, no bowling. Get that right and then we'll build up to the summer. We've got loads of time, there's about 12 weeks until the first Test. We'll see how the next little bit pans out.''

If Cummins isn’t fit, Australia have options to cover both captaincy and bowling. Scott Boland would likely join the pace attack after taking a hat-trick in Australia’s last Test against the West Indies in July.

“We always talk about needing depth,” Cummins said. “In the last couple of years, we haven’t had to go past the four main guys, but players like Sean Abbott, Doggy [Brendan Doggett], Michael Neser, and Jhye Richardson are all there. We have about four or five guys ready to step in if needed.”

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