Ashes: Pat Cummins ready to step in if captain Tim Paine is unavailable

Australia
have
named
a
15-man
squad
for
the
opening
two
Ashes
Tests,
with
skipper
Paine,
who
had
gone
under
the
knife
to
fix
a
bulging
disc
in
his
neck
in
September,
included
despite
an
injury
cloud.

“Hopefully,
Tim
will
be
fine,
he’s
nearing
100
per
cent
…
but
I’ll
be
ready
if
I
have
to,
but
I
doubt
that,”
Cummins
was
quoted
as
saying
by
Channel
Nine.

The
pacer
added
he
could
always
seek
the
counsel
of
experienced
players
in
the
side,
like
former
skipper
Steve
Smith
and
David
Warner,
if
he
found
the
role
tough.

“If
I
was
in
the
role
and
I
found
it
tough,
at
times,
there’s
ten
other
guys
I’d
lean
on
out
in
the
middle.

“You’ve
got
people
like
Smithy
and
Davey
Warner
who
are
incredibly
experienced,
all
the
bowlers
are
experienced
and
look
after
themselves
pretty
well
so
I’d
have
no
issues
handballing
it
over
to
other
people
to
help
out.”

The
28-year-old
hasn’t
played
a
first-class
match
since
February.
He
also
skipped
the
limited
overs
tours
of
West
Indies
and
Bangladesh
and
second
leg
of
the
IPL
2021
before
featuring
in
all
of
Australia’s
T20
World
Cup
games.

But
Cummins
is
confident
he
will
be
ready
for
the
red-ball
series.

“With
no
games,
it
gave
me
the
chance
to
focus
on
a
few
different
things,
so
my
body
feels
as
good
as
it
has
in
a
couple
of
years,”
Cummins
said.

“There’s
no
niggles,
I
feel
really
fresh
and
I
always
love
going
into
a
series
giving
myself
the
best
chance
to
turn
up
and,
if
I
have
to
bowl
50
overs
in
a
Test,
I
can.”

Ahead
of
the
series
opener,
Australia
will
play
one
three-day
intra-squad
match,
starting
December
1.

Cummins
will
share
pace
duties
with
fellow
speedsters
Josh
Hazlewood
and
Mitchell
Starc,
who
were
all
part
of
the
Australian
side
that
won
its
maiden
T20
World
Cup
on
Sunday.

“The
benefit
of
the
short
spells
is
that
we’re
really,
really
fresh.
I
always
feel
like
it’s
better
to
be
underdone
than
overdone
coming
into
a
big
Test
series,”
he
said.

“We’ve
got
access
to
quite
a
few
centre
wickets.
We’ll
have
three,
four,
five
centre
wickets
where
we
try
and
have
relatively
big
days,
bowl
a
couple
of
spells
on
those
days,
and
then
we’ll
be
ready
to
go.”

The
first
Test
takes
place
at
the
Gabba
in
Brisbane
from
December
8,
followed
by
the
day-night
Test
at
Adelaide
Oval
from
December
16.