Australia Test captain Pat Cummins shared that he wants to return to bowling in the next 4-6 weeks as he recovers from the lumbar bone stress injury. The 32-year-old has not been included in the Baggy Greens' squad for the upcoming white-ball assignments against both New Zealand and India as he is set to rest during this period in order to properly manage his workload ahead of The Ashes.
Cummins won't just be absent from international cricket and will also not be featuring in Shield cricket as he is currently fully focused on recovering from his injury and making a return into the Australian team foor the Ashes opener from November 21.
The Australia skipper shared a take on his fitness and stated that he has not thought much about his injury as he has still got a lot of time in order to recover fully.
“I’d imagine (I’d want to be bowling) at minimum a month out, maybe six weeks. But I’ve not thought that deeply about it yet. It’s still a bit of a wait and see. We’ve got plenty of time, so we’ll map a way back when we get closer. At the moment for the next few weeks it’s pretty light. Not much running and zero bowling," Cummins said as quoted by cricket.com.au.
Cummins on Australia's next generation of seamers
Cummins also expressed confidence in the next generation of Australian pacers and even namedropped the likes of Jhye Richardson, Michael Neser, Brendan Doggett and Sean Abbott as the playerrs who will provide some much-needed depth to their squads in white-ball cricket.
“We feel really well placed. A lot of planning goes in. It’s not just a month before, it’s 12 months out. Someone like Jhye Richardson hopefully he will be available for some of the summer," Cummins stated.
“There’s (Michael) Neser, Brendan Doggett was part of squads last year, Sean Abbott. So I’m really confident in our depth. Obviously there is a bit of Shield cricket and white-ball cricket before that to make sure everyone is up and raring to go," he added.
Meanwhile, Australia's next international assignment will be a three-match T20I series against New Zealand which will commence from October 1. They will then be facing India in a three-match ODI series and five-match T20I series before playing their crucial Test assignment against England.