Mixed bag for Australia as Cummins fit but Hazlewood out for the entire series after picking up an Achilles issue.
Hazlewood out of Ashes, Cummins confirmed for Adelaide in what is a mixed bag for Australia.
Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the Ashes series due to an Achilles injury, and his recuperation will now be concentrated on preparing for the T20 World Cup. Pat Cummins will return to skipper Australia for the third Ashes Test in Adelaide next week.
Australia is scheduled to reveal a 15-man squad on Tuesday, with Cummins being the lone addition. Usman Khawaja is also anticipated to be healthy and available for Adelaide. After Khawaja’s absence due to a back injury, a new opening duo of Travis Head and Jake Weatherald performed well in the first two Tests in Perth and Brisbane, and coach Andrew McDonald told media that the selectors are open to batting Khawaja in the middle order.
McDonald gave an update on Cummins and Hazlewood on Tuesday, confirming that the captain was ready to return.
“His body’s ready to go and barring anything else happening in the next week, I’d be expecting Pat to be tossing the coin and putting the blazer on,” McDonald said
He also confirmed that Hazlewood would play no further part in the series after suffering an Achilles issue following on from his hamstring strain.
“Unfortunately, Josh won’t be a part of the Ashes,” McDonald said. “Really, really flat for him. A couple of setbacks that we didn’t see coming, and we thought he would play a huge part in the series.
“It’s a totally separate injury. It’s somewhere lower in the calf to Achilles region. His preparation will then shift towards the World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us.”
Despite not playing any cricket since July due to a lumbar bone stress injury, McDonald stated that there are no worries about Cummins’ readiness going into Adelaide. In Brisbane, he said, the selectors were on the verge of selecting him.
“There won’t be any match opportunities for Pat, and this is something we’ve done with Pat before, off long layoffs, where we’ve put some time and effort into rebuilding his body,” McDonald said. “He was out at Allan Border Field, whilst everyone was out at the Gabba. So he simulated pretty much what a match will look like out there with multiple spells. So we feel as though he’ll be as best prepared as he can be.
“He was well ahead of where we thought he’d be at. And it did create a real live conversation for Brisbane, the skill readiness, the loads, how he was pulling up. It was debated a lot leading into that Test match. So with that in mind, us seeing him further advanced, we feel it’d be really well placed for the challenges of Adelaide, albeit off a long way off. We feel as though the simulation in the nets have got him skill ready.”