Unlikely to be fit for first Ashes Test in Perth

Pat Cummins admits he is unlikely to be right for the first Ashes Test in Perth next month, as he still remains at least a couple of weeks away from being able to bowl.

“I’d say less likely than likely, but still got a bit of time,” Cummins said when asked about his chances of starting the Ashes at a Foxtel cricket season launch event on Monday morning.

“Feeling pretty good, still got a bit of time so a bit to work through. Start running and got to tick off each week before you get to the next thing. So build up running and start bowling pretty soon, but probably a little bit too early to say.

“You want at least a month in the nets, getting used to it. If you’re going to play a Test match you want to make sure you’re right to bowl 20 overs a day and you don’t have to really think about it. Four weeks is pretty tight but somewhere around that mark.”

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Cummins added that it would be difficult for him to go from his current recuperative state to being right to play all five Ashes Tests, leaving plenty of doubt about how many games he will be able to participate in.

“It’s pretty hard to go from not bowling anything at all to suddenly playing five Tests, so the first step is trying to give us a shot at being right, and then we’ll work it out a bit closer,” he said.

“I know I’m running today and running every second day, and each run is a bit longer, and then we get into bowling prep next week. Probably a couple of weeks to go before I’m putting on the spikes and bowling out on turf.

“Each session you make sure you pull up all right. A few of the symptoms hung around for a bit longer than we would’ve liked, but all gone now. So trying to increase the workload and making sure the body is responding well.”

Questioned on whether there was any possibility of missing the whole Ashes series, Cummins was careful in his response, but added that he would be travelling with the team throughout.

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“Immediate goal is to make sure I’m giving myself a chance to be right for as much of it as possible,” Cummins said. “So it’s really too early to make some big decisions. You’re trying to tick off each session to get one step closer.

“If that first Test I’m not playing I’m hopefully close to playing and prepping as the physios and coaches and players are, so yeah, the intention is to travel.”

Cummins said he had been through a range of emotions as the Ashes series crept closer, as the realisation dawned that he may not be fit to toss the coin at the start of the battle with Ben Stokes’ team.

“Some days I’m kind of annoyed because it’s the Ashes and it’s a big summer and then other days I’m realistic that I’ve had the last seven or eight years almost uninterrupted home summers,” he said.

“So I felt like I’ve had a really good run as a fast bowler. Joshy [Hazlewood’s] missed both the last couple times, he’s been a bit unlucky so maybe it’s my turn. With such a big summer ahead you want to be in the mix and with the Indian one-day series and T20 series I wish I was part of that, but it’s not to be, it’s part of cricket.”

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