Pat Cummins, an Australia vice-captain, feels he is as fresh as he has ever felt coming into a Test series but says he would be surprised if Australia persists with the same four-man pace attack throughout all five Ashes Tests, something they did against India last summer, in a losing cause.
Pat Cummins has returned to Australia and is into hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast on Tuesday with the majority of the triumphant 2021 T20I World Cup-winning squad to begin their Ashes 2021/22 preparation. He hasn’t played a first-class match since February 2021.
Since April, Pat Cummins has only featured in seven T20Is, having opted out of the limited-overs tours to the Caribbean and Bangladesh during Australia’s winter. He also missed the second half of the IPL 2021 prior to the World Cup to be home for the birth of his son.
Pat Cummins Said There’s No Niggles As He Feels Fresh For Ashes 2021/22
Australia will only have one three-day intra-squad match to prepare for the first Ashes Test starting December 8, but Pat Cummins has no concerns about his personal preparation.
“My body feels as good as it has in a couple of years. There’s no niggles,” Pat Cummins said. “I think the first, I guess, benefit of the short spells is we’re all feeling really fresh. I always feel like it’s better to be underdone than overdone coming into a big Test series.
“For now it’s just trying to work back from that day one, get a few good bowls in, I think. We’ve got access to quite a few center wickets. So we’ll have three, four, five center wickets where we try and have relatively big days, you know, bowl a couple of spells on those days. And we’ll be ready to go. And we had a similar prep last year and all felt really good going into that Adelaide first Test, ” Pat Cummins said.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc played all four Tests against India last year, but the plan backfired as the trio tired on the final days in Sydney and Brisbane and were unable to bowl out India in either game as the visitors produced a famous come-from-behind series win.
Australia rotated their bowlers heavily in the 2019 Ashes series, using Peter Siddle and James Pattinson as specialists in those conditions. Pat Cummins was the only one of the five Australian fast bowlers used in that series to play all five Tests, and he expects that there will be some rotation again this summer.
“When someone’s I guess rested it is normally more to it than just purely workload,” Pat Cummins said. “There’s always niggles and small little injuries that we’re dealing with, basically after every single Test match.”“The great thing is we’ve got a huge stable of fast bowlers. So yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a huge issue if someone’s not able to get up for a Test or someone’s just red-lining a little bit. Someone else can slot in.”“I’d be surprised if the same four bowlers were used for all five Tests. That’s pretty rare, especially the five-Test match summer. But I certainly won’t be putting my hand up to be rested unless I’ve got something going wrong.”
Jhye Richardson is firming as a certainty to play a part in the upcoming Ashes series, having not played a Test match since 2019 when he dislocated his shoulder in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup and the then Ashes tour. In recent years, Michael Neser has also been a constant presence in Australia’s Test squads and could also make his Test debut this summer despite coming off a hamstring injury.
“I think both can slot in really well,” Cummins said. “It might be like-for-like maybe in some regards. I’d say probably Jhye, especially last week, I only saw a little bit but apparently, he bowled beautifully up here at the Gabba.”“It’s really great to see him back around the squad. He was on the verge of a World Cup and an Ashes series a couple of years ago before having a shoulder injury, so it’s great to see him get back and bowling well, fully fit, and hopefully he kind of starts off where he left off against Sri Lanka a few years ago.”
Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson were in the 15-man line-up as back-up for the fast-bowling attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood after the shock retirement of James Pattinson last month.
George Bailey Impressed By Jhye Richardson’s Form
The 15-man Ashes squad for the first two Tests, as well as an Australia A squad, was announced on Wednesday. Chairman of selectors George Bailey was also impressed by Jhye Richardson’s form leading into the Ashes series following his Player of the Match performance for Western Australia against Queensland at the Gabba last week, where he took eight wickets, including 5 for 23 from 22.2 overs in the second innings.
“Getting pretty excited by Jhye,” Bailey said. “One physically, I think he looks as strong as I’ve seen ever seen him.”
“He’s had a couple of niggles, and he’s worked his way back from those so he’s starting to build some resilience into his body, still a young body.
“I think he’s worked his way into the last three shield games quite nicely, but one particular spell I think it was the morning of day [three], a really impressive spell early on, I think he ended up ended up getting the wickets of Marnus [Labuschagne] and Joe Burns, who both commented that it was it was impressive quality.”
Veteran Usman Khawaja and middle-order batsman Travis Head were recalled to Australia’s squad for the opening two Ashes Tests against England Wednesday, with incumbent number five Matthew Wade axed. Marcus Harris, as expected, got the nod in the absence of concussion-hit Will Pucovski and is expected to open alongside David Warner. But there was no place for his fellow World Cup standout performer in the final — Mitchell Marsh.
Australia squad: Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner