Pat Cummins injury detail emerges amid concerning Ashes fallout

Fresh details have emerged around the extent of a wrist injury Pat Cummins suffered in the fifth and final Ashes Test against England at The Oval. The Aussie captain was sporting a bandage on his left wrist and revealed in the wake of the fifth Test defeat that he would have to await the result of scans to determine the nature of the problem.

Cricket Australia (CA) is yet to confirm the extent of the damage but The Sydney Morning Herald reports Cummins may have played the final Test with a broken wrist. The report cited two unnamed sources who were told by medical staff that the wrist injury was of a more serious nature than first thought.

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Cummins was able to bowl without much fuss during the match but he looked to be in a bit of discomfort while batting, making his first innings knock of 36 runs off 86 balls even more admirable. Nevertheless, the injury leaves the skipper in doubt for Australia's upcoming limited overs fixtures.

"I landed on my wrist on day one in the field going for a run out," Cummins said after the match. "It's pretty sore. We'll get it assessed over the next few days and work out if anything needs to happen."

Cummins was not the only casualty in the Australia squad, with spinner Nathan Lyon ruled out of the series after suffering a calf injury in the second Test and Mitchell Starc playing through the pain of a shoulder injury sustained in the fourth Test. The injuries may have had something to do with the tightly packed schedule that saw five Ashes Tests crammed into a 46-day window. Australia also played the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India just before the five-Test Ashes series.

British scribe Nick Hoult wrote in The Telegraph that "greed" was behind the packed schedule, with cricket administrators trying to pack in as much white-ball cricket either side of the Ashes. England's domestic competition The Hundred kicked off mere days after the Ashes series finished, while India's IPL finished just before the WTC final.

Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in doubt for white-ball fixtures

Cummins and Starc are both now under injury clouds ahead of an important set of upcoming white-ball fixtures for Australia. The Aussies will be hoping neither injury is too serious, with Australia's squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa set be named next week.

The majority of the side's multi-format players are expected to be rested for the three-match Twenty20 series starting on August 30. It was then hoped Cummins, Starc and the other big names would return for the five one-day internationals (ODIs) that will serve as crucial preparation for the ODI World Cup in India, in October and November.

Starc's fitness will be particularly crucial as he has been Australia's leading wicket-taker for the past two World Cups. NSW leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha and Western Australia all-rounder Aaron Hardie are shaping as potential bolters for the 50-over tournament in India, with Marnus Labuschagne understood to be fighting for his spot after averaging 25 in 17 games since the start of last year, having hit 374 runs at a strike rate of 75.

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