Pat Cummins ready to take "few risks" in order to be ready to play Ashes 2025-26

Pat Cummins has suffered a stress reaction to his lower back just as Australia preps for Ashes 2025-26.

Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, has acknowledged that he may use “aggressive” tactics to demonstrate his fitness for the Ashes 2025-26 opener after suffering a back ailment.When a scan showed lumbar bone stress in his lower back, Cummins’ Ashes preparations were severely hampered, and he was forced to miss the white-ball series against India and New Zealand.

The 32-year-old has been limited to light duties at the gym since coming home from the Caribbean tour. He will not be running or bowling and is hoping that his bone tension will eventually go away.Given that injury plagued him over the first six years of his international career, Cummins is well aware of its nature. He runs the risk of developing a stress fracture if he forces his return too soon.

“I’m never going to go into a Test match unless you think you can finish the Test match. But when you’re 18 or 19, you’re like, let’s make sure this is the perfect rehab, whether it takes an extra six months. Whereas, I’m happy to be a bit like, well, it’s an Ashes series, whatever it takes to play it. Then, say, at the end, if you’re still not 100 per cent and you need to, then have a bit of a break next year … there’s not another Ashes series,” Cummins told cricket.com.au.

Cummins has bowled more than 400 overs in each of the previous three years. His workload has significantly decreased, though, as he has managed 175.1 overs in the first nine months of 2025.

“I’m still doing a bit of gym” – Pat Cummins on his rehab

Despite bowling a total of 60 overs in the three test matches, Cummins pulled up sore after Australia’s 3-0 thumping of the West Indies in July.

In the lead-up to cricket’s oldest rivalry, Cummins thinks he can swiftly catch up to his speed even if he loses his opportunity to play a few games.

“Do the rehab right and give it a good crack. It’s a big Ashes series. It doesn’t get much bigger, so I think you’re willing to take a few risks and be a little bit aggressive to try and play as much Test [cricket] as you can. Gave it kind of another month [after the tour], have had a pretty quiet month to help settle it down and had another scan on Monday which [was] not terrible, but kind of enough to know that there’s a little bit there and kind of got to be careful for the next little bit,” Cummins said.

“I’m still doing a bit of gym, but no real running, no bowling. Get that right and then we’ll build up to the summer. We’ve got loads of time, there’s about 12 weeks until the first Test. We’ll see how the next little bit pans out,” he added.

Although the exact cause of his injury is still unknown, Cummins alluded to the hard yards he put in during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final loss to South Africa at Lord’s earlier this year. Throughout the four-day match, Cummins bowled 35.1 overs.

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