Pat Cummins chooses to skip white-ball series against South Africa, says 'body feels pretty good, but...'

Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins, a pivotal figure in the national setup across all formats, opted out of the white-ball series against South Africa at home in August 2025 as part of a focused build-up towards the Ashes series later in the year. Cummins, who had already been rested for the five-match T20I series against the West Indies in July, alongside fellow senior players Mitchell Starc and Travis Head, extended his break to skip the three T20Is and three ODIs against South Africa scheduled across Darwin, Cairns, and Mackay.

His absence from these matches was a strategic decision, aimed at managing workload and ensuring peak fitness ahead of a demanding summer. Josh Hazlewood, who was initially included in the squad to face West Indies in five-T20I series, will fly back home after pink-ball Test. Hazlewood has been replaced by Xavier Bartlett.

Training nets replaced with gym work

Cummins entered a rehabilitation phase, emphasising gym-based fitness work over bowling as he looks to fully prepare for the home summer. He had also missed the ICC Champions Trophy earlier in 2025 due to an ankle issue he carried during the Test series against India.

“I’ll have a good training block for the next couple of months, six weeks or so, Probably not bowling, but lots of gym work. [My] body feels pretty good, but there’s always little bits and pieces you’re always trying to get right and then build up for the summer. So it’ll probably look like white-ball [cricket]…we’ve got some [matches against] New Zealand, India, potentially a Shield game and then into the home summer.” Cummins told reporters at Sabina Park.

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All roads lead to the Ashes

While he remained Australia’s ODI captain, Cummins had only led the side twice since winning the 2023 World Cup final. His focus during this period was on long-term preparation rather than short-term match fitness, with an eye on a possible return for the brief T20I tour of New Zealand in early October and select limited-overs fixtures against India before the home Ashes.

“[My] body feels pretty good, but there’s always little bits and pieces you’re always trying to get right and then build up for the summer.” Cummins expressed further.

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Changes in Australia's T20I squad

In Cummins’ absence, the selectors made multiple adjustments to the T20I squad. Xavier Bartlett was brought in after impressive performances in Major League Cricket (MLC) for San Francisco Unicorns, where he led the wicket charts with 11 scalps at 14.72 from seven matches. Jake Fraser-McGurk was also drafted in as a late inclusion, replacing the injured Spencer Johnson, who had been nursing back soreness since the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

Fraser-McGurk, who also played alongside Bartlett in MLC, had a patchy run of form recently,including four single-digit scores in his last five innings. His international numbers are inconsistent with just 113 T20I runs from seven appearances, featuring a top score of 50 against Scotland. His IPL stint with Delhi Capitals (DC) had ended poorly, averaging just 9.16, after a similar lean Big Bash League (BBL) season for Melbourne Renegades.

The five-match T20I series against West Indies is scheduled to begin on July 20 at Sabina Park, followed by three more games in St. Kitts.