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Cummins primed as Australia maintains full confidence in Khawaja
Terence Lattanzio • December 16th, 2025 12:40 pm
A 2-0 Test deficit is difficult enough to overcome, yet for England, the task has only grown, with Australian captain Pat Cummins in full flight ahead of his Ashes return.
Sidelined for the opening two Tests with a back injury, Australia's patience has paid off to full effect, unscathed in their skipper's absence without risking any further damage for the latter stages of the series.
Despite being incredibly close to suiting up for the pink-ball Test in Brisbane, Australian selectors opted against the captain, instead introducing Michael Neser alongside a pace quartet of Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland and of course, chief destroyer Mitchell Starc.
Claiming a comfortable result under lights at the Gabba, Australia will now face England in the heat head-on at Adelaide Oval, with Cummins in perfect nick ahead of Wednesday's first ball in the eyes of head coach Andrew McDonald.
“He was so close to playing last Test match,” McDonald said of Cummins on SEN Mornings.
“What we saw leading into that Test match is something we liked a lot to have that conversation to potentially bring him back ahead of schedule.
“We think he’ll be up and going. There may be a slight adjustment into the match intensity in terms of what presents to him. He may take a couple of overs to settle. He’s usually on from ball one.
“But everything we’ve seen it’s been a full recovery. A lot of detail in that from the injury he had. We feel he’s at full throttle and has the capacity to bowl a lot of overs for us which is a real positive.
“We wouldn’t be putting him out there if that wasn’t the case either. We would have given him more time if he needed it.
“We feel as though he’s at 100 per cent, he feels that way, everyone is comfortable with that, and we’re really excited for him.”
McDonald is also keen for Cummins to give the coaching staff a break and make his way back to the playing arena.
“He’s been sitting on the sidelines seeing everything happen and that is hard,” he added.
“He was quite annoying in the coaches’ box to be perfectly honest. We’re happy to see him back out on the field for dual reasons.”
Beyond Cummins, McDonald also spoke on veteran opener Usman Khawaja.
The 38-year-old was unable to get his body right across both Tests thus far, struggling with a back concern that cut his first Test short and ruled him out of the pink ball Test in Brisbane.
Late last week, Khawaja pleaded his case for a spot back in the side having returned to full fitness, expressing his desire to suit up and compete for Australia despite his difficulties with both health and form.
“He’s going well,” McDonald said.
“He didn’t quite make it to the selection table in Brisbane; it was an injury that he obviously articulates that he didn’t quite recover (from).
“He pushed it in the Perth game, made it worse and then didn’t recover in the timeframe that was normal to that as he aggravated that during that second day of play.
“He went out there, put himself at risk and wasn’t able to fulfil his duty as the opening batter. He is travelling well, he’s in full work, he’s faced a lot of balls this week and it looks like a normal prep for him.”
Given the media onslaught faced by Khawaja in recent weeks, McDonald issued a reminder of the figure the veteran has been for the Australian side over numerous years, citing his dominance with bat in hand at multiple levels that keep him well within the Test picture.
“He has had one back injury in his whole career,” he continued.
“I think it’s an overreaction to correlate that to the age of the athlete. He prepares well, his Shield numbers are incredibly good comparative to everyone else – I think he’s the leading runs average for the last three or four years.
“Every time he drops back to that level, he dominates. If that’s a determiner of who is the next best, or who is next in line in Australian cricket, then he is at the top of the pecking order there.
“He’s incredibly valued within this group, we’ve got three Test matches to go in this series – if he plays this one, fantastic, he gets that opportunity. If he doesn’t, he is still a part of this group and important.
“We always say, we’re going to need a squad to get there. I can’t speak highly enough for what Usman has done over the last few years for us.”
McDonald stands firm on his belief that age is not a factor for he, the selectors or for Khawaja.
“I think everyone’s getting infused around the age and putting an end date,” he said.
“It feels as though people want to hear an end date from him or from us - we are not that team. We are not going to put end dates on things.
“Everyone pushes it back into the David Warner space – Davey was clever in the fact that he was going game by game at a certain stage and he was aware of that – he put his own end date on that, which was incredibly motivating for him.
“He put the target out there, and that was a personal decision for him. I think Uz has been on the record saying he is going Test by Test, he just loves playing Test match cricket and wants to continue to play.
“There is nothing wrong with that, and people will say that the selectors need to put an end on it – as I said, he is performing at Shield level, the work he does back there… there is other value in players like that, what he does to others within and around the squad, very similar to Davey Warner.
“The effect that they can have, even when they are not playing at certain times. A valued team member – I don’t know whether it’s unfair, I don’t know whether it's fair, I don’t read a lot of it, I’ll leave that up to the people out there to judge.
“Maybe people think my views on it are not what they think, and that’s the beauty about selection, That’s the beauty about choosing players when they are in the twilight of their career.
“Who would have thought that a 36-year-old Mitchell Starc would be able to do what he does two years ago?
“You’ve got to be careful not to push people to the end point before they are actually ready for that, or before the team doesn’t have a need for them.”
The third Test in Adelaide kicks off on Wednesday and SEN Cricket will be there to call every ball LIVE.
Listen to McDonald's full chat with Adam White below:
