{"id":361984,"date":"2025-12-21T06:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T06:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/361984\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T06:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T06:21:19","slug":"australia-skipper-pat-cummins-set-to-miss-boxing-day-test-despite-feeling-great-after-winning-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/361984\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia skipper Pat Cummins set to miss Boxing Day Test despite \u2018feeling great\u2019 after winning Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian skipper Pat Cummins is unlikely to play in the Boxing Day Test despite \u201cfeeling great\u201d after helping his side retain the Ashes<\/a> in style.<\/p>\n

The Aussies picked up the final four England wickets on Sunday to win the third Test by 82 runs<\/a> and secure an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Australia retain Ashes with 3-0 demolition.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

It got a bit closer than most predicted with England threatening to pull off the greatest chase in history, but ultimately they fell short.<\/p>\n

Cummins came into the final day under a cloud after not bowling for the final two hours on Saturday, but was untroubled with the ball in hand on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He finished the Test with three wickets in each innings, including the prized scalp of Joe Root twice.<\/p>\n

\"PatPat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Joe Root. Credit: Channel 7<\/p>\n

But with the urn safely in Australia\u2019s hands for another series, Cummins said he is unlikely to play next week and might miss the final Test in Sydney as well.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cFirst of all, I felt great, just like a normal Test match,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeeling really good, as for the rest of the series we\u2019ll wait and see.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a pretty aggressive build-up knowing that it\u2019s an Ashes there to be won. We thought that was worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that the series has been won, there might be a sense of job done, let\u2019s kind of reassess the risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll work it out over the next couple of days, I doubt I\u2019ll be playing Melbourne and then we\u2019ll have a chat about Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly before the series, it was while the series was alive let\u2019s take on the risk. Now it\u2019s done, we\u2019ll need to have a chat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins\u2019 lumbar bone stress in his lower back had been the most talked-about injury in Australia for the past three months.<\/p>\n

First the injury was considered a minor one. Then the captain was in doubt for the first Test. At one stage, the whole summer looked gone.<\/p>\n

As is often the case, the reality was somewhere in the middle. Cummins probably could have played in Brisbane a fortnight ago, but was clearly right for Adelaide.<\/p>\n

At the height of the speculation, Cummins made one thing clear. He wouldn\u2019t need long once he started bowling again, and there wouldn\u2019t have to be a warm-up game.<\/p>\n

And after returning to the lightest of bowling seven weeks ago, Cummins barely missed a beat on his return to Test cricket this week.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s plan with Cummins worked perfectly and now with the Ashes secured, it would not surprise to see the captain put his feet up for the rest of the series.<\/p>\n

He won\u2019t be the only change for Boxing Day with Nathan Lyon set to miss after suffering a hamstring injury<\/a>, while Steve Smith is also likely to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look great,\u201d Cummins said of Lyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know yet, but seeing someone on crutches doesn\u2019t really bode well for a Test match a week away.<\/p>\n

\u201cGaz is pretty close to irreplaceable … but we\u2019ve got some guys who have already had a taste of international cricket around the traps; other guys have done really well in domestic cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left-arm orthodox spinner Matt Kuhnemann and offspinners Todd Murphy and uncapped Corey Rocchiccioli are frontrunners to replace Lyon.<\/p>\n

But Cummins said it would be a brave selector who tried to tell fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland – the only pace pair to play all three Ashes Tests so far – to rest in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike always, we will probably give it 48 hours and see how everyone pulls up,\u201d Cummins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck to anyone telling Starcy or even Scotty they\u2019re going to miss a Boxing Day Test if they\u2019re fully fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast bowlers Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett remained with the squad in Adelaide while Jyhe Richardson trained with the Australians entering the fixture before being released for BBL duties.<\/p>\n

– With AAP<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ponting lashes \u2018disappointing\u2019 England after Ashes humiliation<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Nathan Lyon\u2019s Ashes series could be over in \u2018tragic\u2019 scenes<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian skipper Pat Cummins is unlikely to play in the Boxing Day Test despite \u201cfeeling great\u201d after helping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,740,1625,3863,588,85,33383],"class_list":{"0":"post-361984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-sponsored-content","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-the-ashes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361984","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=361984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}