Ashes 2025-26: Pat Cummins gives a major update on his injury

Australian skipper Pat Cummins feels there is still a bit of time to take a final call on his fitness ahead of the first Test of the forthcoming Ashes series against England, starting on November 21 in Perth.

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For the unversed, Cummins has been nursing a back issue of late and is yet to return to practice ahead of the Ashes opening Test. However, he is still giving himself an outside chance of being fit for the much-anticipated series.

"I'd say probably less likely than likely, but we've still got a bit of time," Cummins said in Sydney on Monday, October 13.

"I'm running today and running kind of every second day, and each run is a little bit longer, and then we get into bowling prep next week. So I'm probably a couple of weeks away from 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. You'd probably want at least a month in the nets," Cummins added.

"If you are to play in a Test match, you want to make sure you are right to bowl 20 overs in a day and you don't have to think about it. Four weeks is pretty tight, but I think somewhere around that mark,” he admitted. 

Furthermore, the Australian captain also reckoned that his back injury will not be a major concern for the long term and he has plans of featuring in as many Ashes Tests as possible and also captain the side in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

"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. 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,” he concluded. 

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Ashes 2025-26 series schedule:

First Test: 21-25 November, Perth

Second Test: 4-8 December, Brisbane

Third Test: 17-21 December, Adelaide

Fourth Test: 25-29 December, Melbourne

Fifth Test: 3-7 January 2026, Sydney

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