Pat Cummins reveals Ashes injury detail amid fresh Aussie cricket setback
The Australia captain has opened up on the injury that's set to rule him out of important upcoming fixtures.
Australia captain Pat Cummins has provided fresh details of the pain he battled through in the final Ashes Test after suffering a wrist fracture that looks set to rule him out of the upcoming one-day series against South Africa. Cummins was able to bowl throughout the fifth Test against England at The Oval but looked in discomfort while batting, making his first innings knock of 36 runs off 86 balls even more admirable.
The Aussie skipper revealed at the conclusion of the series that he picked up the injury after landing awkwardly on his wrist while trying to effect a run-out in the field. Cummins said he didn't think the injury was too bad at first but admits it "hurt a lot" while he was batting, and is now likely to rule him out of Australia's ODI matches against the Proteas, beginning next month.
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"It hurt day one when I did it and it hurt a lot when I was batting, but I didn't think it was too bad," Cummins said. "Then with each day it got a little bit sorer so I knew it was probably bone as opposed to a muscle (issue)."
Cummins was already set to miss the first leg of Australia's white-ball tour to South Africa - a three-match T20 series starting on August 31. It was hoped the Aussie skipper would return for the five ODIs that follow against the Proteas, with Cummins now appearing more likely to return for a three-match series in India towards the end of September, ahead of the ODI World Cup.
"I'll head over to South Africa at the back-end of that leg," Cummins said. "But we're probably looking more at those one-dayers ahead of the World Cup. It shouldn't be too bad. Another few weeks and it'll be right."
The five ODIs against South Africa and three-match series against India that will serve as crucial preparation for Australia's World Cup campaign in India, across October and November. Fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc is another player battling to regain full fitness after playing through a shoulder injury suffered in the fourth Test.
Pat Cummins endorses Mitch Marsh for ODI captaincy
In the likely absence of Cummins for the ODIs against South Africa, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Alex Carey, plus newly-appointed T20 captain Mitch Marsh are all captaincy options for Australia. Any replacement captain could be auditioning for the role long-term, with Cummins weighing up his workload and whether he wants to juggle the added responsibility alongside his bowling workload and red-ball leadership.
"I haven't thought about it too much to be honest. We'll play this World Cup and then assess it after that," Cummins said about the ODI captaincy. "The good thing is we've got a few options (for South Africa).
"(Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he's doing the T20s as well." Marsh's appointment as Australia's newest T20 skipper caps off a stunning international resurgence for the all-rounder, who made an Ashes century in the third Test on his extraordinary return to Australia's red-ball side.
"He's always been a huge member of the team, a real leader," Cummins said about Marsh. "As a captain, that's what you want, a guy that's going out there, taking the game on, someone we can all get behind. Off the field, he's just a great people-person. His energy's infectious, he's great to hang around with, always good fun."
with AAP
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