Cummins says he's 'less likely' to feature in Ashes opener in Perth

Sydney, Oct 13 (IANS) Australia's Test captain has provided an update on his recovery from lumbar back stress ahead of the Ashes, saying he is "less likely than likely" to suit up for the series opener in Perth, slated for November 21, as he begins to ramp up his training schedule ahead of his return to bowling.

Cummins has been battling a back problem in recent times and has not played since the Test tour of the Caribbean, where his bowling workloads were significantly lower than usual.

After scans revealed lumbar bone stress in his lower back, he was ruled out of the three white-ball series against New Zealand and India.

Cummins, however, resumed running last week and plans to start bowling drills next week. He knows he is facing a race against time to feature in that first ICC World Test Championship contest against England, he is still giving himself an outside chance of being fit.

"I'd say probably less likely than likely. But we've still got a bit of time. You'd want at least probably a month in the nets," Cummins told reporters at the Kayo Sports Summer of Cricket launch on Monday.

"I'm running today and running kind of every second day, and each runs a little bit longer, and then we get into bowling prep next week. So I'm probably a couple of weeks away before actually putting on the spikes and bowling out on the turf. But it's been a good couple of weeks. Each session feels better and better," he added.

Cummins believes his back injury won't be much of a concern in the long-term and he still plans to feature during as many Ashes Tests as possible and lead Australia at next year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

"It's a back injury that I haven't had for about seven or eight years, and I've played a lot of cricket between that," Cummins said.

"So if anything looking back when I was, say, 20 years old and I had this injury, I was a bit worried about what my body could actually handle. But I know in myself that if I get it right, do it properly, when I come back I shouldn't have to worry about it all. And hopefully I can play as much, even more cricket than I had previously in the last few years."

--IANS

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