In a major twist, Australia has just suffered two major losses in the last two Tests of the Ashes series 2025-26 against England. Head coach Andrew McDonald has made it clear that Pat Cummins will not return for the rest of the series.
Along with this, the team’s spinner Nathan Lyon who is suffering from a torn hamstring that now needs to be operated on, will also be sidelined from the rest of the season. These incidents take place when Australia is already in a dominant position with a series win.
Australia has announced that Cummins will not participate in the remaining Ashes Games officially.
McDonald confirmed that the fast bowler would not participate in the rest of the Ashes despite his passing without any recent problems through the Adelaide Test. Cummins had just returned from a stress fracture in his back and was instrumental in Australia’s victory during the third Test. He took three wickets in both innings and helped his team secure the series
McDonald said that the resting of Cummins was a decision taken long before.
The management of the team had always been aware of the danger that still existed in bringing him back for the series.
“He’s come out good, but he won’t be involved in the series anymore. That was a very early discussion we had about the coming back of him,” McDonald told the press at a conference.
“We were going to take on some risk, and those who covered that would know the risk that comes with the rebuild.”
“But we have won the series now, which was the aim, so to put him at further risk and to make him go through a long process of recovery is not something we want to do and Pat is very much on board with that.” he added.
Now that Cummins is out of the picture for the rest of the Test summer, his or her possible comeback during the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February is being speculated. McDonald indicated that this would be dependent on additional medical assessments, including scans on Cummins’ back. His availability is still uncertain at this point, but there is hope.
“I can’t really tell. It’s pretty unclear right now, we’re optimistic.”
It should be noted that Jhye Richardson has been included in the squad as Cummins’ substitute for the Boxing Day Test. Australia is presently ahead 3-0 in the five-match series and has retained the urn. The final two Tests still hold significant as WTC points are at stake
