Australia are anxious about the availability of their World Cup-winning captain, Pat Cummins, for the upcoming Champions Trophy as the star pacer faces a race against time to recover from his ankle injury.
Cummins, who won’t be touring Sri Lanka for Australia’s two-Test series, will undergo scans to assess the extent of the injury.
Cricket Australia‘s chairman of selectors, George Bailey, has not provided any assurance about the skipper’s availability for the Champions Trophy that will run from February 19 to March 9.
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Throughout the Australian summer, Cummins has been dealing with ankle discomfort. Despite the injury, he successfully led his side to a 3-1 triumph against India in the prestigious Border Gavaskar Trophy series and was also the team’s highest wicket-taker with 25 wickets across five Tests.
When asked about Cummins’s participation in the Champions Trophy, Bailey remained non-committal about the fast bowler’s inclusion in the squad.
“Not really sure yet, we’ll have to wait and see when that scan comes back and where it’s tracking,” he told ‘nine.com.au’.
Australia unveiled their squad for the two-Test series in Sri Lanka on Thursday. It will be led by Steve Smith in Cummins’s absence.
“There’s a little bit of work to do; he’s got a little bit of a sore ankle as well. So I think in the next week or so, he’s got a scan coming and we’ll get a bit more information around where that’s at,” Bailey added.
Another fast bowler on the injury list is Josh Hazlewood, who has a side injury. Bailey expressed optimism regarding his fitness for the Champions Trophy.
“He’s working really hard, and all the news on how he’s responding to the calf injury is coming along really well,” said Bailey.
“It was just probably a little bit tight (to include Hazlewood in the Test squad for Sri Lanka) given the amount of time he would’ve missed and again looking how we potentially may structure up those loads the quicks may be put under,” he added.
“It just worked out that unfortunately for him he didn’t quite get there in time (for Sri Lanka Tests) but really confident he should be fit and raring to go for the Champions Trophy.”
