{"id":531423,"date":"2025-10-27T16:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/531423\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:16:19","slug":"the-ashes-picture-has-just-changed-and-not-in-englands-favour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/531423\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ashes picture has just changed \u2013 and not in England’s favour"},"content":{"rendered":"

England have a golden opportunity to make the early running in the upcoming Ashes series after Australia confirmed Pat Cummins has been officially ruled out of the first Test in Perth.<\/p>\n

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald admitted his captain had \u201crun out of time\u201d in his bid to recover from a back injury for the series opener on 21 November, when Steve Smith will lead the team.<\/p>\n

But a return to bowling in the nets this week for Cummins has buoyed hopes that he will be fit for the second Test, a day-night match, in Brisbane that starts on 4 December.<\/p>\n

The i Paper understands Cummins has progressed much faster than Australia had expected a month ago, when there were fears that their captain and bowling spearhead, who has 309 Test wickets at 22.10, would miss the entire series.<\/p>\n

Now, though, Brisbane looks a realistic option for the 32-year-old, who at worst looks likely to be back for the third Test in Adelaide that starts on 17 December as long as he suffers no further setbacks.<\/p>\n

\"FILECummins has not played since Australia\u2019s Test series\u00a0against the West Indies in July (Photo: Reuters)<\/p>\n

Australia will be monitoring Cummins closely as he takes to the nets this week in a bid to increase his workload. <\/p>\n

But McDonald, who confirmed the captain will be with the squad in Perth as he builds up to his return to action, said: \u201cIt\u2019ll almost be one of those things where you\u2019ll see him in work and it\u2019ll almost be a question of why isn\u2019t he playing in Perth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we think he\u2019ll be placed by that stage. So we\u2019re excited by getting eyes on him in a bowling capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose you get excited about when he does come back, what an injection that will be to the group, a fully fit Pat Cummins returning some stage during the Ashes and that\u2019s what we\u2019re hopeful for.\u201d<\/p>\n

This latest update is a boost to England but it also underlines how crucial it is for them to take advantage of Cummins\u2019 absence for that opening Test.<\/p>\n

If Cummins is parachuted into the series with Australia already ahead, it would be a body blow to the hopes of Ben Stokes\u2019s men<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is imperative that they make a fast start in Perth, a city where England have lost their last eight Tests and have not won since 1978.<\/p>\n

All of those matches were at the Waca. The good news is that is no longer a Test venue, with the new Optus Stadium hosting its first Ashes Test next month.<\/p>\n

The calculations for England will surely be to leave nothing to chance for the series opener, with fast bowlers Mark Wood and Jofra Archer likely to be paired together.<\/p>\n

But England will hope their batters pick up some form before the Ashes after their opening ODI defeat by New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Harry Brook ensured that match was closer than it might have been with a brilliant 135 but the four other batters in England\u2019s Ashes squad \u2013 Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell and Joe Root \u2013 managed just six runs between them.<\/p>\n

With just one three-day warm-up match on Australian soil before the first Test in Perth, the one-dayers in New Zealand are being treated as the start of the team\u2019s warm-up for the Ashes.<\/p>\n

Now more than ever, head coach Brendon McCullum needs to ensure his players hit the ground running in Perth to take advantage of Cummins\u2019 absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England have a golden opportunity to make the early running in the upcoming Ashes series after Australia confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[23273,748,393,7504,4884,29003,48605,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-531423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-australia-cricket","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-england-cricket","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-pat-cummins","14":"tag-the-ashes-2025-26","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}