'Bit of a wait and see...': Pat Cummins shares massive fitness update ahead of The Ashes

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins hopes to play in the upcoming five-match Test series in England, but is not sure if his back injury will be able to recover in time or not. This comes after the 32-year-old recently got ruled out of the white-ball series against New Zealand and India due to 'lumbar bone stress'.

There have been a lot of question marks over Cummins' participation in the Ashes and the pacer has now himself shared a big update on his fitness. He further stated that he will have to 'wait and see' if he will be able to recover in time for the all-important red-ball assignment.

"There are no hard and fast plans yet. I'm still doing a bit of gym and keeping things kicking over, but with this kind of injury, it's rest and then we'll build back and kind of work back from the Ashes. Still really hopeful to be able to be part of the Ashes. But it is a little bit of a wait and see," Cummins told reporters.

ALSO READ: 'Our fast-bowling department...': West Indies coach Darren Sammy fires big warning to Indian team ahead of Test series

Cummins further expressed the desire to feature in all the five Tests against England and remarked that a decision will be taken soon.

"It's honestly too far out to say. But the aim at the moment is to try and be ready for all of it," Cummins stated.

McDonald's verdict on Cummins' fitness

Meanwhile, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald had recently expressed confidence in Cummins recovering from his injury in time and playing a 'significant' role in The Ashes.

"It's not ideal. I'm not going to sit here and say that it's ideal. He does have a lumbar bone stress issue there. So he'll just work through what his return to play looks like. We're confident that he's going to partake in The Ashes, I think to sensationalise that he's not would be an overreaction," McDonald told SEN Radio.

"If it happened any closer then you'd have to be making sort of key decisions around what it all looks like, but we have got time. There's a lot more information to come and I think everyone will probably live through that with the footage of him training and when he re-enters around the group. We look forward to our captain taking a significant part in The Ashes," he added.

ALSO READ: IND A vs AUS A: Devdutt Padikkal slams sensational century on Day 4, breaches 3000-run mark in first-class cricket

Meanwhile, The Ashes will be the second assignment of both Australia and England in the World Test Championship's new cycle. While the Baggy Greens had defeated West Indies 3-0 in their previous red-ball series, the Three Lions had drawn their five-match series against India by 2-2.