There will be no Pat Cummins in the second Ashes Test as well after the Australia captain was not named in the squad for the day-night second match at the Gabba in Brisbane starting December 4. Australia won the first Test in just two days at Perth to surge to a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series and have named an unchanged squad for the second game.
There were reports coming from Australia that pacer Cummins bowled well in the nets in Sydney earlier on Friday. However, his comeback will have to wait at least one more Test, the one at Adelaide beginning December 17. The 32-year-old Cummins is in the final stages of his recovery from lumbar back stress and will again travel with the squad to Brisbane. Local media reported that Cummins was bowling at what appeared to be full speed to stand-in captain Steve Smith for more than an hour with a pink ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. Cummins has not played in a match since Australia completed a clean sweep of the West Indies in the Caribbean in July, where he first experienced soreness in his back.
Meanwhile, veteran opener Usman Khawaja has been included in the Australia squad after back spasms prevented him from batting in the second innings of Perth’s series opener.
Cummins’s absence in the squad means native Queenslander Brendan Doggett looks set to retain his place in the XI for Brisbane after collecting five wickets in the first Test.
England arrived in Brisbane on Thursday, with its entire first test XI opting against pink-ball match practice with only unused squad members Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue to feature against a Prime Minister’s XI team this weekend.
Ben Stokes’ side will hold its first training session at the Gabba on Sunday followed by a session under lights on Monday.
Australia second Test squad
Steve Smith (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
(With inputs from AP)
