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Cummins still aiming for first Ashes Test despite back issue
Lachlan Geleit • September 4th, 2025 12:44 pm
Australian skipper Pat Cummins has addressed concerns around his back injury.
Scans on Monday revealed that Cummins has a stress ‘hot spot’ in his back after pulling up sore from the West Indies series, forcing the 32-year-old into a period of rest.
While he’s still some weeks ahead of bowling again, Cummins expects to build back up ahead of the 2025/26 summer to play a big part in the Ashes.
He spoke to SEN Cricket’s Bharat Sundaresan about the lingering injury with a plan ahead to recover.
“It’s not too bad, it was a little bit sore,” Cummins told SEN Cricket.
“How it works normally after a Test match, you're pretty sore everywhere and things kind of cool down after a week or so, and you hope you go back to normal.
“But my back was a little bit stiff, so it's just hung around a little bit, but there are still ages to go before the Ashes.
“So, a bit of rest, lots of gym work, and then we'll build back up.”
While it’s too early to tell whether Cummins and the rest of the pace bowling attack will be able to stand up to the rigours of five Ashes Tests, the skipper says he’s still absolutely aiming to be out there for the first Test in Perth on November 21.
“It’s hard to know,” Cummins said.
“It's still a bit of a kind of wait and see, you have a bit of down period for another month or so and then make sure we've got enough time to give us a chance to play all five.
“Every summer I say the aim is to try and aim for five Tests. But realistically it's probably not going to happen.
“The intention is to try and play as much of it as possible, but especially the first Test as captain as well. That’ll be the aim absolutely and then you try and map out how you can play as much as possible.
“It feels kind of pretty silly to try and work out hypotheticals this far out, but intention is to try and play as much as we can.”
Cummins previously had a stress fracture in his back during the 2018 off-season but was fit to play in the 2018/19 summer against India.
The first Test between Australia and England begins on November 21 at Optus Stadium. Catch every ball of the Ashes on SEN - your home of cricket.
