Injury concerns have loomed over Australian captain Pat Cummins ahead of next month’s Champions Cup as the pacer faces scans on a “sore ankle” and chairman of selectors George Bailey refuses to confirm his availability for the marquee event. Cummins had been bothered by an ankle problem throughout the Australian summer but recently managed to lead his team to a 3-1 win over India in the famous Border-Gavaskar Test series. Bailey did not specify whether Cummins will be guaranteed to compete for the championship trophy starting Feb. 19.
“Not quite sure yet, we’ll have to wait and see where that scan comes back and where it’s tracked,” he told nine.com.au.
Australia have announced their squad for the two-Test away series against Sri Lanka, with several stalwarts, including Cummins, missing from the list. The team, made up mostly of fresh faces, will be led by ace batter Steve Smith.
“Pat will obviously be on maternity leave soon,” Bailey was quoted as saying on Thursday.
“There’s a bit of work to do, he’s also got a bit of pain in his ankle, so I think he’ll have a scan in the next week or so and we’ll get a bit more information about where it is.” “, he added.
Bailey, however, expressed confidence that pacer Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide with a left side injury and has missed the last two games with a calf strain, will be worthy of the Champions Trophy.
“He is working very hard and all the news about how he is responding to his calf injury is coming in very well.
On Hazlewood’s absence from the Sri Lanka-bound squad, Bailey said: “It was probably a bit difficult (for that team) given the amount of time he would have missed and to think again about how we we can potentially structure these loads. these fast ones can be put under water.
“It just turned out that, unfortunately for him, he didn’t make it in time (for the Sri Lanka Test) but he was really confident that he would be fit and enthusiastic to compete for the Champions Trophy,” Bailey added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
Leave a comment