Australia captain Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the remaining two Ashes 2025/26 Tests.
Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon to miss last two Ashes 2025/26 Tests
After missing the first two Tests of the ongoing Ashes series, Cummins will now miss the last two as well. A back injury had kept him out of the Perth and Gabba Tests, but he was declared fit to feature in Adelaide.
Cummins didn’t look like he was out of touch, picking up three wickets each in the two innings. But with Australia winning in Adelaide to seal the series going into the Boxing Day Test, the management has decided not to risk his long-term health.
Cummins had himself conceded that he was unlikely to feature in Melbourne despite “feeling really good”, which was confirmed after Australia announced their squad for the match. Head coach Andrew McDonald opened up on the decision, telling the press:
"He's pulled up fine. 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. 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."
Will Cummins miss T20 World Cup too?
Cummins hadn’t played any form of cricket after the Test series in the West Indies in July this year. After a long and intense road back to fitness, he played in Adelaide, but the latest development now puts his T20 World Cup participation in doubt as well. McDonald was not ready to confirm that Cummins would play the tournament.
"That'll be an assessment. 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 [T20] World Cup, whether he'll be there or not. I can't really say. It's quite grey at the moment. We're hopeful."
Australia have struggled with a host of injuries throughout the Ashes 2025/26 series. They missed both Josh Hazlewood - who was later ruled out of the entire series - and Cummins in the Perth Test, along with Sean Abbott. Usman Khawaja had to sit out the second Test due to back spasms before an illness kept Steve Smith out in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon suffered a hamstring injury during the Adelaide Test and is now set to undergo surgery, which would keep him on the sidelines for an extended period. Australia have called up Todd Murphy for the fourth Test, while Jhye Richardson has also been named and could make his return after last featuring in the format in 2021.
Australia squad for Adelaide Test
Steven Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
