Pat Cummins running out of time for Ashes Test at Perth as McDonald says he has had a positive week in training.
Pat Cummins ‘running out of time’ as Perth D-day looms but Ashes hopes alive.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald has acknowledged that his skipper is running out of time to be fit for Perth, but he is still confident that Cummins will play some part in the series. A decision regarding Cummins’ availability for the first Ashes Test is scheduled for next Friday.
McDonald verified on Friday that Cummins’ lower back lumbar bone stress, which was the subject of a scan earlier this week, has eased.
However, with only six weeks till the first Test starts in Perth on November 21, Cummins has yet to bowl, raising questions about his availability.
According to McDonald, Cummins and the medical team were able to incorporate some new elements into his training, which had been limited to lower leg strength exercises for the last month, thanks to the most recent scan. He acknowledged that the timeline was getting extremely tight, but he said that a decision regarding whether he can advance to bowling with a view towards participating in the first Test would be made late next week.
“We still aren’t further advanced on whether he’ll play the first Test,” McDonald told reporters on Friday. “We are definitely running out of time around that. He’s added some variables into his training. I think by this time next week, we’ll be in a position where we’re better informed to make a judgment around what that first Test match looks like.
“He’s had a positive week, and so we’ll just wait for that information to come in. Anyone that knows the nature of those injuries, you do add the variables in and it’s about how you recover from adding the variables into your training. It’s not as quick as everyone thinks it is. We look forward to a positive outcome next Friday and then making some decisions around what it looks like for the first Test match.”