The Ashes 2025-26: Australian captain Pat Cummins will not be able to play in the first Test match of the Ashes series against England due to a back injury. Australian team head coach Andrew McDonald has confirmed this.
“We’ve run out of time,” head coach Andrew McDonald told reporters in Canberra.
“We sort of flagged this a week or so ago that it would take sort of four plus weeks to get him up and running and we've run out of time, unfortunately, but we’re really optimistic and hopeful for the second Test match. We’ve grappled with it for a little while. The nature of the injury is that you never know and you're sort of taking it a day by day,” he added.
Cummins, however, will start bowling this week to be fit for the second Test. The first Test will start from November 21 at Optus Stadium in Perth, while the second Test will be played from December 4 at The Gabba in Brisbane.
Pat Cummins was diagnosed with a stress injury in his back after returning from the West Indies tour in September. Cummins has also struggled with back injuries in the past, which saw a long gap of 5.5 years between his first and second Tests. But after this he is very fit and continues to play for Australia.
Steve Smith Set to Lead Australia Team
Steve Smith will captain the Australian team in the absence of Pat Cummins. Smith has previously captained 6 Test matches in the absence of Cummins, of which Australia won 5 matches. It also includes the Adelaide Test of the 2021-22 Ashes series, when Cummins had to sit out due to contact with a corona-infected person.
Steve Smith has captained Australia in a total of 40 Test matches. During this time, the Kangaroo team won 23 matches, while the team lost 10 matches. 7 matches were also missed on the draw. The possibility of fast bowler Scott Boland playing in the first test has increased due to Pat Minns being out. Boland took a hat-trick against the host team on the West Indies tour.
Although the exclusion of Pat Cummins from the first Test match is nothing short of a shock for Australia, as he is an excellent captain as well as Australia's leading bowler. The Australian team may replace him in the playing XI with Scott Bowland in the first Test. On the other hand, Steve Smith has also taken the responsibility of captaincy in the absence of Cummins. As captain he also performs well with the bat and averages around 70 runs in this role.
Full Schedule of The Ashes 2025-26
• First Test: Friday November 21-Tuesday November 25 (2.30am) - Optus Stadium, Perth
• Second Test (day/night): Thursday December 4-Monday December 8 (4.30am) - The Gabba, Brisbane
• Third Test: Wednesday December 17-Sunday December 21 (12am) - Adelaide Oval
• Fourth Test: Thursday December 25-Monday December 29 (11.30pm) - Melbourne Cricket Ground
• Fifth Test: Sunday January 4-Thursday January 8 (11.30pm) - Sydney Cricket Ground.
England's Ashes Squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.
