Pat Cummins to skip white-ball series against South Africa

Kingston: Pat Cummins will skip the upcoming white-ball series against South Africa next month as he focuses on preparing for the Ashes later this year.

Cummins had already been rested for the five-match T20I series against the West Indies, alongside Mitchell Starc and Travis Head. Now, Josh Hazlewood - who was initially named in the squad - will also return home following the Test series, with Xavier Bartlett brought in as his replacement.

While Hazlewood is set to play in the white-ball series against South Africa in August - which includes three T20Is and three ODIs across Darwin, Cairns, and Mackay - Cummins will instead focus on a fitness block in preparation for the home summer.

Cummins is targeting a return for the brief T20I tour of New Zealand in early October and hopes to feature in some of the limited-overs games against India leading up to the Ashes in late November. He may also play a Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales - something he didn’t do last season ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“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 remains Australia’s ODI captain but has only led the side twice in the format since the 2023 World Cup final. He missed this year’s Champions Trophy due to an ankle issue he had been managing during the Test series against India.

With the Ashes on the horizon, the early rounds of next season’s Sheffield Shield are expected to play a key role in shaping Australia’s plans, especially as the team continues its search for a settled top order. Sam Konstas will have two more opportunities to impress during the West Indies tour, while Usman Khawaja will be aiming to silence doubts over his form with two more innings. Cameron Green, meanwhile, will look to build on his second-innings half-century in Grenada. IANS

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