Pat Cummins ruled out of Ashes opener, Steve Smith to lead Australia News24 –

Australia’s pace leader Pat Cummins will sit out the first Test of the forthcoming Ashes series, the first of the series which is next month’s opener in Perth. Steve Smith will lead the team in his stead, Cricket Australia announced on Monday.

Cummins has been out since Australia’s 3-0 July series whitewash of the West Indies, suffering from a recurrent lower-back injury. While there had been continued speculation over his availability for the Ashes opener at Optus Stadium on November 21, Cricket Australia finally released a statement saying that he would not play. The news is a huge blow for Australia’s chances of defending the urn.

But there was some hope provided by head coach Andrew McDonald, who said Cummins has started running again and would return to bowling in the nets later this week. A good outcome from these would decide his fitness for the day-night second Test at Brisbane, which starts on December 4.”It takes four plus weeks to get him up and running, and we’ve run out of time, unfortunately, but really optimistic and hopeful for the second test match,” McDonald told reporters in Canberra.

“He’ll be back bowling this week, and that’s a huge step … so we’re on the journey to that second test match, and very hopeful that that will be a positive outcome.”

Smith, who lost the captaincy following the 2018 sandpaper scandal, has also stood in for Cummins six times already since the latter took over as Australia’s Test skipper in November 2021. Most notably, in 2025, Smith captained Australia in a two-Test series against Sri Lanka, scoring 141 and 131 to help his side win.