Australia, especially their bowling, looks undercooked going into the T20 World Cup. Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has retired from the format as far as international cricket is concerned. New-ball partner Josh Hazlewood is likely to miss their first few matches in Sri Lanka as he continues his recovery from injury. And with Test skipper Pat Cummins pulling out of the final squad just days before the start of the tournament, the Aussie pace attack may be left in the hands of the likes of Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarhuis, at least for the initial phase of the T20 showpiece. But Cummins has his priorities set, and wants to be fit and firing for the next 18 months, as Australia have a jam-packed Test schedule, including a five-Test tour of India. He had played just one Test of the Ashes summer, and sat out the final two games once the urn was secured, with an eye on the T20 World Cup. But a “minor setback” prompted the pace spearhead not to take any long-term risk, as he has had a history of back issues early in his career. “It was really unfortunate. I feel pretty good, just a minor setback and just ran out of time really. I’ll rest up for a few weeks and go from there,” Cummins told the Australian Associated Press. “We knew after the (Adelaide) Test match (in the Ashes) we were going to need somewhere between four and eight weeks to let the bone settle right down before then building back up. Initially, we thought it might only be four weeks, because I was feeling really good, but just had a follow-up scan. They thought it probably needs another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight,” he added. With a hectic Test schedule coming up, Cummins didn’t want to take any chances. Australia’s next assignment in the longest format is a two-Test home series against Bangladesh in August, before a Test and ODI tour of South Africa, their first since the 2018 one infamous for Sandpapergate. They return home for four Tests against New Zealand. Next year has the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the 150th anniversary Test against England in Melbourne, the ODI World Cup in southern Africa, a World Test Championship final, if Australia qualify, followed by an away Ashes series.Story continues below this ad “We thought the first half of the year was a pretty good time to be conservative with the amount of cricket that’s coming up,” the 32-year-old fast bowler said. “We’ll get it right, then hopefully that will mean you won’t have to worry about it, and you can just go out and play all those Test matches. Whereas, if you’re not careful with it now and it flares up, you’re chasing your tail a bit.” Cummins is also hopeful of leading Sunrisers Hyderabad in the upcoming Indian Premier League season starting March 26, but gave no guarantees. “We’ll just be guided by my back,” he said. “We’ll have another scan in a few weeks, and if it’s good, then we’ll have a slow build-up. “T20s are a little bit easier to get up for (than Tests), that’s why I was so close to getting up for this World Cup.”
Tests before T20s: Why Pat Cummins is missing upcoming T20 World Cup
