{"id":201929,"date":"2025-10-10T02:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201929\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T02:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:59:07","slug":"pat-cummins-back-injury-latest-andrew-mcdonald-provides-update-video-ashes-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201929\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Cummins back injury latest, Andrew McDonald provides update, video, Ashes news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has provided an update on the fitness of Pat Cummins, conceding time is running out for the Test captain to prove his fitness ahead of next month\u2019s Ashes opener.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old has not bowled since July due to a lower-back stress injury, putting him in serious doubt for the first Test against England, which gets underway at Perth Stadium on November 21.<\/p>\n

In a positive update Cummins began running again this week following another round of medical scans<\/a>, but he has not yet been cleared to resume bowling.<\/p>\n

Watch live coverage of the 2025 Marsh One Day Cup on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/p>\n

On Friday, McDonald flagged that Cummins would need to resume bowling \u201cfour-and-a-half weeks\u201d before the Perth Test for any chance of him featuring in the Ashes opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and Patty have spoken about that type of timeframe,\u201d McDonald said, as reported by cricket.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cOr else you start to bring in other risk factors \u2013 a) you\u2019re not skill ready, b) soft tissue injuries then become a real risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you were to do a soft tissue injury early in a series like the Ashes, then it\u2019s a long way back from where he\u2019s been. So we\u2019ll be mindful of all those risk factors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald with Pat Cummins.Source: AFP<\/p>\n

McDonald added that a decision on Cummins\u2019 involvement in first Test against England would be made in the coming fortnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big couple of weeks, we\u2019ve added some variables into his training in the last couple of weeks and had a positive result there,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some positive signs speaking to Patty over the last few days. He\u2019s a lot more optimistic. Those who have been through this type of injury (say) these things ebb and flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of weeks ago, did he think he was a chance (to play in Perth)? Potentially not, he was a little bit sore. Then you flip it forward two weeks and there\u2019s a lot more positivity. We\u2019ve still got a little bit to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the benefits with Patty is that he has had the ability to prepare for Test matches off shortened preparations. So if it was to be shrunken down, we\u2019d be very confident that he would still be able to perform in the first Test.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the reality is, we\u2019re starting to get tight in terms of the times. We\u2019re still optimistic, hopeful, but this time next week, I think we\u2019ll be in a position to get better gauge on where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald also didn\u2019t rule out the possibility of Cummins playing a Sheffield Shield match or a Cricket Australia XI game before returning to the Test side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it better to get Patty up and moving early in the (Ashes) series, even though he\u2019s a little bit underdone, to get into the series, versus potentially finding him a game somewhere else?\u201d McDonald asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those things we\u2019ll weigh up with Pat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starc looking to BBL after Ashes | 02:28<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Australian teammate Mitchell Starc agreed that Cummins was capable of finding peak form and fitness quickly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found one thing playing with Pat and being close with Pat, he doesn\u2019t need much. Whether he bowls three warm-up balls, (the) first over the game he\u2019s on the money,\u201d Starc said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just knows when to switch on or how to switch on really quickly. Whatever it looks like for him in his prep, it\u2019s going to be certainly different to what mine feels and looks like. That comes with experience and age.\u201cNo doubt we\u2019ll all, not just myself or Pat, we\u2019ll all in the squad be preparing slightly differently, playing different games or amounts of cricket, heading into the very important Test series.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian coach Andrew McDonald has provided an update on the fitness of Pat Cummins, conceding time is running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-201929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}