Australian superstar Pat Cummins will miss the rest of the 2025-26 Ashes
Australian superstar Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes and his chances of featuring in the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup remain unclear.
Cummins was fit to play the third Test in Adelaide but ran a risk in returning so swiftly after a back stress fracture hindered his run-up to the series.
He collected six wickets, including the key scalp of English champion Joe Root in both innings, as the Aussies retained the urn inside 11 days.
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“He has pulled up fine (but) he won’t play any part in the rest of the series,” McDonald said of Cummins.
“That was a discussion we had a long time out around his return. We were taking on some risk and the people that reported on that would understand the risk associated with that rebuild.
“We’ve now won the series and that was the goal, to position him for further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something that we want to do.
“Pat is really comfortable with that and if he had any setback in the build-up as well we would’ve shut him down straight away.
“Full credit to him and the medical team, to navigate him through that profile and take six wickets in that game and nail the Ashes series was incredibly pleasing.”
The Twenty20 World Cup starts a month after the fifth Test in Sydney and Australia is already managing an injury to one of its first-choice fast bowlers.
Josh Hazlewood bowled brilliantly in the white-ball series against India prior to his Ashes-ending injury and is rushing to be fit for the limited-overs tournament.
Cummins too needs a check-in scan before he can be ruled in or out of the World Cup, but are hopeful, more than confident, McDonald admitted the fast bowler’s chances were “grey at the moment”.
“World Cup, that will be an assessment, this is an assumption. He will have a check-in scan at some point and gather more information where his back is at,” he said.
“Looking forward to the World Cup, whether he will be there or not, I can’t really say. It’s grey at the moment, we’re hopeful.”
Originally published as Australian superstar Pat Cummins will miss the rest of the 2025-26 Ashes
