Pat Cummins’ 2025-26 Ashes contribution will stop at a single match, and there is no guarantee he will recover in time for February’s T20 World Cup. Australia’s selectors, medical staff and the captain himself are united on one point: the long-term health of their premier fast bowler outweighs short-term goals.
The announcement arrived in two parts on Tuesday. First, Cummins was absent when the XI for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG was named. A few hours later head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed the wider picture: “He won’t play any part in the rest of the series and that was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return.”
Australia already lead England 3-0, the urn secure after victory in Adelaide, where Cummins, fresh from an aggressive rehabilitation programme for a lumbar stress reaction, took six wickets. Speaking after that match the captain admitted that “Leading 3-0 is hugely satisfying”.
McDonald expanded on the delicate balancing act that preceded Cummins’ lone appearance. “He’s pulled up fine,” he began, before adding, “We were taking on some risk and people that reported on that would understand the risk associated with that rebuild. We’ve now won the series and that was the goal. So, to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something that we want to do and Pat’s really comfortable with that.”
In truth the mere fact the 32-year-old made it to Adelaide represented a minor triumph for Australia’s sports-science team. “If he had any setback in the build as well, we would have shut him down straight away,” McDonald said. “Everything went really smoothly and full credit to him [and] the medical team. 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.”
The next call concerns the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Cummins has not played a T20 international since mid-2024, when Australia defended their title in the Caribbean and United States. His absence from that format partly reflects workload management, partly the chronic back issue that surfaced after the recent West Indies tour.
Selector meetings later on Tuesday will begin sketching out a provisional World Cup squad, yet McDonald stressed that medical data will dictate whether Cummins’ name appears. “That’ll be an assessment,” the coach said. “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.”
Any World Cup decision has a knock-on effect for the Indian Premier League, starting in March. Sunrisers Hyderabad have already announced Cummins as their 2026 captain, a role that could clash with a conservative medical timeline. Franchise cricket money may tempt boldness; Cricket Australia’s central contract system promotes caution. Finding the middle ground will require candour from doctors, selectors and player alike.
Where does the leave Australia for the final two Ashes Tests? Scott Boland retains his spot at Melbourne, while Lance Morris and Mark Steketee remain on standby. None offers Cummins’ pace-control combination but, with the series won, the management can afford to broaden its options ahead of next summer’s home series against Pakistan and New Zealand.
England, for their part, have hardly hidden relief at the news. Joe Root, who has now fallen to Cummins 19 times in Tests, quipped during training that he “might finally get through the new-ball spell alive”. Joking aside, Ben Stokes’ side remain under pressure; avoiding a 5-0 scoreline would salvage pride and World Test Championship points.
For Cummins the priority is straightforward: banish the stress reaction for good. Australia know from bitter experience how quickly a fragile fast bowler can unravel. The hope, to use McDonald’s word, is that one outstanding performance in Adelaide will have been worth the enforced rest that follows. If it also allows Cummins to light up another global tournament and lead SRH without restriction, the cautious route will feel justified.
