FILE PHOTO: Cricket - 2025 ICC World Test Championship Final - South Africa v Australia - Lord's Cricket Ground, London, Britain - June 12, 2025 Australia's Pat Cummins celebrates after taking the wicket of South Africa's Temba Bavuma, caught out by Marnus Labuschagne Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia head coach Andrew McDonald is confident injured captain Pat Cummins will be fit to play a major role in the Ashes even if he does not feature in all five matches of the series.
The fast bowler is recovering from a lower back injury that has troubled him since Australia's tour of the West Indies earlier this year.
"We have got time. If it happened any closer (to the Ashes) then you would have to be making key decisions around what it all looks like," McDonald told Australian radio station SEN.
"But we have got time, a lot more information to come, and as I said, we're really hopeful that he will take a key part in the Ashes."
Cummins will not feature in Australia's white-ball series against New Zealand and India in October.
McDonald said staff had not worked out a timeline for Cummins' return to international cricket and did not bank on him or his pace teammates playing five tests against England.
"From the get-go, we never really planned for five test matches for most of our fast bowlers," he said.
"Over the last couple of years we have been lucky with shortened games early in the summer, to be able to deliver five test matches (for a fast bowler)," he said. "We will see what that looks like for Pat."
The Ashes start in Perth on November 21.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
