Pat Cummins might play in Australia’s top first-class cricket competition, the Sheffield Shield, to get ready for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The fast bowler, who last played in the Sheffield Shield in February 2021, has been in nine games so far. As the captain of Australia’s Test team, Cummins wants to use the Sheffield Shield and the one-day series against Pakistan before India’s Test tour to prepare himself for a tough match between the two teams competing in the World Test Championship 2021-23.
“Ronnie (Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald) called me recently and said we need to discuss this,” Cummins said in an interview with News Corp. “I like to be a bit rested, but I definitely want to play some cricket before the big series.”
“I think I’ll play either two or three one-day international games, and maybe a Shield game or just some Shield games, possibly some New South Wales one-day matches. I expect I’ll start playing around late October or early November to prepare for the Test matches.
Cummins, who is 31, recently played in the second edition of Major League Cricket for the San Francisco Unicorns. He has been given a break from Australia’s tour of Scotland and England as part of the team’s plan to manage player workloads.
The Australian team will face Scotland in a three-game T20I series starting on September 4. The series will end with the third T20I on September 7.
After that, Australia will play against their Ashes rivals in a series of white-ball games, including three T20Is and five ODIs.”
The T20I series will start in Southampton on September 11 and end with the third T20I in Manchester on September 15.
The first ODI match will take place at Trent Bridge in Nottingham and will finish with the fifth ODI on September 29.
It’s important to note that the first Test of the five-match series between India and Australia will be held at the Perth Stadium.
