England’s worst nightmare is now right round the corner.

Pat Cummins is making an eleventh hour bid for an extraordinary recall to the Australian side for the second Test in Brisbane on Thursday.

As the agonising wait for the second match nears an end, it looks more and more likely he will get up.

And he has come from the clouds, given the Australian captain feared he may not play a part in the series at all when he was first diagnosed with a stress injury in his back.

Like a wrestler storming the ring, Cummins could march out to the middle and do the toss, without even being named in the team’s official 13-man squad.

Australia say they want one more look at the Gabba wicket before settling on their final side. But that won’t have anything to do with Cummins. It may sway a call on whether he replaces paceman Brendan Doggett or spinner Nathan Lyon, but if Cummins is ready to go, he must play.

Australia have the chance to put their foot on England’s throats.

“We haven’t ruled him out, he’s bowled really well in the last couple of weeks in the nets and he’s pretty close,” stand-in captain Steve Smith told SEN on Wednesday.

The Aussie bowling group own the top four spots on the all-time day-night Test wicket charts. Of course, they have embraced it more than any other nation — as Joe Root made clear this week — but Cummins is behind only Mitchell Starc on the list with 43 wickets from nine matches.

No one in the camp has given any indication this week there may still be some way to go in his recovery and it now feels like leaving him out served — at least in part — as a veil around his return.

His return would reunite the most lethal bowling combination in world cricket and no one will fear that more than Root who has been dismissed by Cummins 11 times in the Ashes.

In their Perth Test disaster, England grappled with length and bounce. Attempting to drive balls on the up caught out several of their top-order batters, including opener Zak Crawley and No.3 Ollie Pope.

More than half of deliveries Australia bowled in the first Test were length balls (between six and eight metres from the stumps), with the 55.1 per cent measured in the first innings dipping to 48.3 per cent in the second.

That’s a tactic you can set your watch to in this series and Cummins is the best exponent of that kind of ball Australia has got.

He has taken an eye-watering 44 wickets from eight Tests at the Gabba at an average of 18.50.

He’s also the leader of the attack and also relieves Scott Boland of the new-ball duties he battled with in Perth. It’s a far more balanced attack with Cummins sharing opening duties with Starc.

Having watched Cummins charge in and bash the surface in the nets at Perth, it is clear Australia will not be taking any risks with his back.

He looked every bit a fit and ready fast bowler in the lead-up to that Test match and it made officials’ decision not to name him in the Brisbane squad an intriguing one.

Few Australian line-ups in recent memory have held as much mystery as this one.

No one in the camp has given any indication this week there may still be some way to go in his recovery and it now feels like leaving him out served — at least in part — as a veil around his return.

If so, it’s a good one. Australia could go with any combination of players in tomorrow’s clash.

Josh Inglis looks set to be recalled, but that’s not nailed on. It’s also not been confirmed Travis Head will open, or who, if anyone, Cummins will replace.

Very little is a mystery in cricket anymore and it’s harder to keep things under wraps when there are 12 days between Tests.

Australia have done a good job of it this time.