Australian captain Pat Cummins was ruled out of the remaining two Ashes Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, head coach Andrew McDonald said on Tuesday. The 32-year-old had hinted after the win in the third Test at Adelaide that he could miss the Boxing Day Test, with a decision on his involvement in the New Year’s Test in Sydney meant to be taken later.
“He won’t play any part in the rest of the series. That was a discussion that we had a long time out around his return. Yeah, we were taking on some risk. We’ve now won the series, and that was the goal. To position him for further risk and jeopardise him long term is not something that we want to do.”
“Pat’s really comfortable with that. If he had any setback in the build-in as well, we would have shut him down straight away,” McDonald told reporters on Tuesday.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon would also miss the Boxing Day Test, with Cricket Australia saying that the 38-year-old would need surgery after he tore his right hamstring during the Adelaide Test.
The hosts have added Jhye Richardson and Todd Murphy to their squad as replacements for both players. Steve Smith, who led in the first two Tests at Perth and Brisbane, will return to captain the hosts in the fourth Test, starting on December 26.
Richardson last played a Test match against England at Adelaide in the 2021-22 Ashes series. Murphy last played for Australia against Sri Lanka at Galle in January.
“It’s always pretty robust around when you’ve got three, three potential candidates, or even four. Todd’s been an important part of the key overseas series. He played in the last Ashes back in 2023, and we feel as though Todd’s back to his best.”
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“I spoke to Todd this morning, really excited for him to be back around the group. We’ve got some decisions make. I just had a look at the wicket then. Do we play spinner? Don’t we play spinner? We’ll work through that. But it was an interesting conversation with the spin depth we do have, which is full recognition to those also that were discussed,” McDonald said.
Australia’s squad for Boxing Day Test: Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.
