T20 World Cup: Skipper Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes series after being left out of Australia’s squad for the Boxing Day Test, and it is unclear whether he will be available for the T20 World Cup in February.
Cummins had signalled in his post-match press conference, following the Adelaide Test, that he could be rested to manage an ongoing back issue.
The pacer, who was diagnosed with a lumbar stress reaction after the West Indies tour, pushed the limits of his rehabilitation from a back stress injury to return for the third Test.
He took six wickets in the Adelaide Test as Australia won by 82 runs, retaining the Ashes urn with two games to go.
On Tuesday, head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed his injury omission for the rest of the Ashes series.
"He won't play any part in the rest of the series. That was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return. Yeah, we were taking on some risk. We've now won the series, and that was the goal. To position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do," McDonald told reporters in Melbourne.
"Pat's really comfortable with that. If he had any setback in the build-in as well, we would have shut him down straight away.
"Everything went really smoothly, and full credit to him, the medical team and to navigate through that risk profile, to get him back and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing for everyone associated with that," he added.
It remains to be seen if Cummins will be available for the T20 World Cup set to start in February. “I can’t really say at the moment, we are hopeful," said McDonald.
"Everything went really smoothly, and full credit to him, the medical team and to navigate through that risk profile, to get him back and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing for everyone associated with that," he added.
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Speaking on Cummins' T20 World Cup chances, McDonald said, "That'll be an assessment. I'm assuming he'll have a check-in scan at some point and gather more information around where his back is at… looking forward to the World Cup, whether he'll be there or not. I can't really say. It's quite grey at the moment. We're hopeful."