After suffering a fractured wrist in the final Ashes Test at The Oval, Pat Cummins is aiming to make a comeback in the ODIs against India in late September, ahead of the World Cup.
The injury was sustained by Pat Cummins, Australia’s ODI captain, on the first day of the Test, but the extent of it wasn’t known until after the game. Since then, he has had a cast on his left wrist, which will take around six weeks to heal.
That would put him up until about the middle of September. He will fly to South Africa for the ODI part of that tour, which includes five games between September 7 and September 17. However, the three matches in India right before the World Cup seem like a more attainable return date.
“It’s not too bad,”
Cummins said.
“I’ll head over to South Africa at the backend of that leg, but probably more of those one-dayers ahead of the World Cup. Another few weeks and I’ll be right.
“It hurt day one when I did it and it hurt a lot when I was batting but I didn’t think it was too bad. With each day it got a bit sorer, so I knew it was probably bone as opposed to muscle.”
Although Cummins was selected to take over for Aaron Finch as the ODI captain last year, he has only captained Australia in two of the team’s six games since that time. Josh Hazlewood replaced him for the one game against England that he missed, and Steven Smith filled in for the three that he missed in India after his mother passed away.
Speaking at a Cricket Australia and HCLTech partnership announcement, Pat Cummins recommended Mitchell Marsh, the new T20I captain, as the obvious choice to captain the ODI team against South Africa in his absence, though he acknowledged that the position might be rotated if players’ workloads are managed in advance of the World Cup.
“The captaincy for the ODIs we’ve kind of shared around a little bit,”
“We’ll get over there, have a look at that. The good thing is we have a few options. [Mitch] is probably the most obvious one if he’s doing the T20s as well.
“Wouldn’t be surprised as well with the amount of ODIs before the World Cup that some guys might miss a game. If Mitch misses one, someone else might step up.”
Marsh was described by Cummins as “a real leader” and as being a perfect fit for the T20I team. Although he has only been hired for the three matches in South Africa so far, he is presently the favorite to seize the position permanently before the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies next year.
Cummins is only anticipated to hold the ODI captaincy through the end of the 2019 World Cup in India, so he will also be a front-runner for that position in the future.
“He’s always been a huge member of the team. A real leader,”
Cummins said.
“Probably in the last few years it’s been his body that’s got in the way at times. What made that Headingley hundred so special wasn’t just getting himself back in the team, he had surgery, got told he might not be able to bowl again, but worked so hard over the last 12 months to give himself another shot at red-ball cricket. We were just all so happy for him.
“And off the field think he’s just a great people person. His energy is infectious, he’s great to hang around with, always good fun. Just gets the temperature of the room right more than anyone else. He’s going to be great for that T20 squad.”