Pat Cummins To Skip ODIs, T20Is vs South Africa To Manage Workload Ahead Of Ashes

Australian paceman Pat Cummins will skip the white-ball matches against South Africa as he prepares to be in good shape for the Ashes, slated to be played later this year. 

Cummins was already rested for the T20Is against the West Indies, along with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head. But Australia have decided to add Josh Hazlewood to the list as well. The players will be returning home after the third Test against the West Indies in Jamaica. Hazlewood is expected to return for the home ODI and T20I series against South Africa in August. 

Cummins, however, will continue with his fitness work ahead of the home summer. He is looking to be involved in a short T20I tour of New Zealand, a few white-ball matches against India, and also turning up for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield.

"I'll have a good training block for the next couple of months, six weeks or so," Cummins told reporters at Sabina Park. 

"Probably not bowling, but lots of gym work. [My] body feels pretty good, but there's always little bits and pieces you're always trying to get right and then build up for the summer. So it'll probably look like white-ball [cricket]…we've got some [matches against] New Zealand, India, potentially a Shield game and then into the home summer."

Cummins has led Australia just twice since the ODI World Cup final in 2023. He missed the Champions Trophy as well, as he was nursing an ankle injury.

Xavier Bartlett and Jake Fraser-McGurk, both of whom are part of the San Francisco Unicorns in the Major League Cricket (MLC), have been called in as late replacements.

The T20I series against the West Indies will begin on July 20 in Jamaica before moving on to St Kitts, where it will reach its conclusion on July 28.