Ashes 2025: Fitness clouds over Khawaja, Hazlewood even as Cummins nears comeback

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has said skipper Pat Cummins “looked like a player nearing the completion of his rehabilitation” after bowling at full intensity in Perth, but emphasised that a final call on his availability for the second Ashes Test in Brisbane will be taken closer to the match.

The early finish in Perth allowed Cummins, recovering from a lower-back stress issue, to shift his planned bowling session to Tuesday. Australian selectors are expected to discuss his readiness soon, though McDonald indicated they would be cautious in their timing. If Cummins returns in Brisbane and the Test runs the full five days, he would still have an eight-day break before the third Test in Adelaide.

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“Once we see him again we’ll be able to then join the dots as to what that potentially looks like. But for those who saw him in Perth, I did say this a while back that he’ll be up and bowling…and people will be sitting there questioning why he’s not playing,” McDonald said.

“It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation. The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There’s a lot of positives, but now it’s just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we’re not putting him in harm’s way in terms of accelerating it too much.

“But it will be a genuine discussion leading into this Test match. That may be one that eventuates late for us. A little bit to work through but it’s nearing completion, which is really, really positive,” he added.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has begun the first week of his rehabilitation from a low-grade hamstring injury. McDonald declined to offer a timeline for his return but confirmed Hazlewood would join the squad in Brisbane to continue recovery.

“He’s working through the first week of his rehab. I’m not sure that we need to give an update on that. Once he gets further down the track and (we) have some rough timelines, then we’ll be in a position to communicate that.

“I know that he’ll be available at some point during the series. We’ve got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series.

“I know that he’ll be available at some point during the series, and once again, we’re not going to put our medical team into a scenario where we identify a game and then the speculation starts around that,” McDonald added.

Khawaja’s fitness being monitored

McDonald also confirmed that Usman Khawaja will undergo further medical assessment this week after experiencing unexpected back spasms during the opening Test in Perth. Khawaja did not open in either innings and batted only once, while also spending extended time off the field. The nature of the issue has concerned team management as Khawaja has no history of similar back trouble.

“There was discussions around further investigation to whether it was more serious than what we sort of first anticipated. So we’ll work through that. We’ll get a squad together. We’ll step through everything that we normally step through. We get to camp in six days’ time. It’s a long way out, a lot of information to gather between now and then, and hopefully Usman is fit and available for selection.”

“I think anytime you spasm, it’s a result of something going on in your back. So I think that further investigation is just due diligence around that. You spasm for a reason. He hasn’t had it before, so that’s what will probably entail a bit more further investigation. My gut feel is that it should be okay, but as I said, we’ll wait for that information to present,” McDonald said.

Head’s century sparks selection debate

The coach also acknowledged that selectors have “a lot to consider” after Travis Head’s blistering 123 off 83 balls as a stand-in opener in Perth, an innings that sealed a dramatic victory and opened up fresh debate about his potential role at the top of the order.

“We’ve got a lot to consider. Batting orders are always debated heavily over a period of time. Middle order players haven’t been sort of the ones that have been the popular ones to open the batting. So we’ll discuss and work through what it looks like.

“I think it gave us a little bit of a lens potentially to the future in terms of adjusting batting orders in second innings, which is something that we have discussed. To be able to put different people in different positions with the scenario that was presented.

“So this one happened probably through a bit more chance and obviously the unfortunate injury to Usman. But I think it really probably opens up that discussion more than anything else for us,” he said.