Pat Cummins is holding out hope he can play the entirety of Australia’s busiest 12 months on record, but admits it will be “very surprising” if all of the big-three quicks manage to.
The Test captain has pulled up well on return from the IPL, where he played his first competitive matches in four months after a back injury curtailed his Ashes.
“Body feels awesome,” Cummins said at a media event for Amazon Prime’s coverage of the women’s Twenty20 World Cup.
“I got a scan, all sweet, so now it’s the next step up, which is getting ready to bowl 20 overs in a day and wake up and do it again in a Test match.”
Cummins will gradually increase his bowling loads throughout June and July in preparation for a 12 month-period that will feature up to 21 Tests.
The hectic chapter begins with two home matches against Bangladesh in August.
By the following August, the Test side will have returned to South Africa for the first time since the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering saga, embarked upon a legacy-defining tour of India and fought to retain the Ashes in England.
They will also play a home series against New Zealand, the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG and possibly the World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
The so-called “big-three” quicks, Cummins, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood, typically plan to feature in every Test match of a home summer.
Cummins acknowledged things might be different this time, but still hoped to be on deck for every Test.
“The lucky thing is I haven’t played much in the last year or so, so I’m actually coming in physically as good as I possibly could be,” Cummins said.
“I’m kind of hoping that I play all of them, but I’m sure things will pop up along the way.
“It’d be very surprising if the same three bowlers played in 21 of the Tests … there might be a little bit of chopping and changing. It’s kind of unprecedented.”
Back-up pacemen Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson and Brendan Doggett filled the void when injuries struck Hazlewood and Cummins over the 4-1 Ashes win last summer.
Cummins has acknowledged white-ball cricket will need to take a back seat in order for him to achieve his goal of playing every Test, with a BBL cameo this summer less likely than ever.
“It’s prioritising the Test matches and then, outside of that, there won’t be too much,” Cummins said.
“There’s some white-ball cricket but I think some of that might be how you pull up from the Test matches.”
Cummins also insisted ultra-accurate Hazlewood was still a realistic proposition for regular Test cricket after hamstring and Achilles tendon injuries sidelined him from the entire Ashes.
The 35-year-old has played only 10 of Australia’s last 20 Tests, but Cummins was pleased to see him back to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru win last month’s IPL final.
“Bowling seems a funny one. You can get on a bit of a roll and play a lot,” he said.
“The hardest thing for someone like Josh is actually getting up and going again. He’s had a few little niggles as he’s been building back up, so it’s been great to see him play a lot of cricket.”
AAP
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