Australia Test captain Pat Cummins is likely to bypass the coming white-ball series against South Africa in August to take a concentrated training block to prepare for the home Ashes series later this year.
Having already taken rest for the T20I series against the West Indies along with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head, Cummins will further extend his international break. Josh Hazlewood, who was originally included in the squad to play South Africa, also will head back home post the Test series against the West Indies. Xavier Bartlett has been brought in as Hazlewood’s replacement.
Whereas Hazlewood will remain a part of the Top End white-ball tour of South Africa, 3-ODIs and three T20Is in Darwin, Cairns, and Mackay – Cummins will shift his attention to a strength and conditioning plan designed to keep him refreshed for a busy summer schedule.
“I’ll have a good training block for the next couple of months, six weeks or so,” Cummins said at Sabina Park. “Probably not bowling, but lots of gym work. My body feels pretty good, but there are always little things to fine-tune before the summer.”
Cummins Targets T20I Tour of New Zealand, India Series, and Possible Shield Game
Cummins, still Australia’s ODI captain, is set to return for the T20I tour of New Zealand in early October, before potential limited-overs cricket against India and even a Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales. He missed this year’s Champions Trophy with a persistent ankle problem picked up during the Test series against India.
Even though he took Australia to World Cup victory in 2023, Cummins has only captained two ODIs since that final in Ahmedabad.
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Sheffield Shield and Australia A Tours to Shape Ashes Selection
With the Ashes approaching in late November, the initial part of the 2025–26 Sheffield Shield season will probably be pivotal in determining Australia’s Test team. Emerging talent Sam Konstas has two more innings to make an impression in the West Indies tour, while old head Usman Khawaja will be under the microscope as doubts remain over his form.
Cameron Green having just produced a gritty second-innings half-century in Grenada is seeking consistency and could return to a full bowling gig soon. He will likely play for Australia against South Africa before maybe intensifying red-ball preparation.
Konstas, on the other hand, will travel with the Australia A tour to India in September to play four-day games, and Khawaja is expected to first appear once the domestic season begins for Queensland.
“There’s a lot of Shield cricket ahead and some Aussie A cricket too,” said Cummins. “If you perform well at Test level, it always makes your case stronger. There’s certainly a link to the summer to come, even if it seems a long way off.”
Bartlett and Fraser-McGurk Receive Late West Indies T20I Call-Ups
Xavier Bartlett, a Cricket Australia central contract holder, will travel to the Caribbean on the strength of an impressive MLC run with the San Francisco Unicorns, topping the wicket-takers list. In T20Is, Bartlett has already impressed with 11 wickets at 14.72 from only seven games.
He will be accompanied by Jake Fraser-McGurk, who is replacing left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson. Johnson, who featured in the IPL earlier this year, is nursing back soreness and was pulled back from the team.
Fraser-McGurk, another Unicorns player, was promising early in the MLC season but finished with four single-digit scores in five innings. He has 113 runs from seven T20Is, including a half-century against Scotland last year. His IPL spell with Delhi Capitals was disappointing scoring a paltry 9.16 average and came after a lean BBL stint for the Melbourne Renegades, where he scored 188 runs at 18.80, 95 of those in one innings.
Series Schedule: Australia vs West Indies T20Is
The five-match West Indies T20I series commences on July 20 at Sabina Park, with two matches in Jamaica before concluding the last three fixtures in St Kitts.
