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The fast bowler Pat Cummins
is expected to miss nearly all of the 2012-13 season due to a stress
fracture in his lower back. The diagnosis means Cummins, 19, will not be
part of the Test series against South Africa or Sri Lanka, and almost
certainly will not be considered for the Test tour of India in February,
while his possible involvement in the Ashes tour of England might
depend on whether he is able to play any first-class cricket before
then.
Cummins, 19, has not played a first-class match since his Test debut
last November in Johannesburg, where he collected seven wickets and was
Man of the Match. Australia's selectors had hoped he would be available
for the third Test against South Africa at the WACA, but scans in
Melbourne this week confirmed that he would be out of the equation for
an extended period.
Cummins had back soreness during the Champions League Twenty20 but kept
playing, including in the Sydney Sixers' victory in the final. That
might have seemed a risky course of action given his injury history, but
Australia's team physio Alex Kountouris said the niggle at the
Champions League did not appear a major issue.
"He had a little bit of back pain towards the back end of the Champions
League, which wasn't a big concern," Kountouris said. "He played all the
games and was training and was functioning okay. But because of his age
and his history we decided to investigate it and unfortunately he's got
an early stage stress fracture of his spine, which is disappointing.
"The good news is we've got it nice and early, because we have had a
high index of suspicion with him. Now we're going to manage it early and
expect to get a good outcome from it. He's now going to start his
rehab. We do expect him to miss most of the season, if not all of it.
But he will come back and he'll be fine once he gets back in to playing
cricket again.
"Pat had a spine bone stress injury a few years ago but the current
injury is new and in an entirely different part of the spine. We expect
he will recover fully from this injury and will be closely monitored to
determine his return to the playing field, but expect that he will miss
most of the 2012-13 domestic cricket season."
Cummins missed most of last summer due to a foot injury and has managed
only four first-class matches - including his Test debut - in his short
career. He also suffered a side strain during the one-day tour of
England this year and was sent home mid-series.
His latest injury means Australia will have one less bowler to rotate
through the Test attack this summer, which could mean a heavier workload
for James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc. Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus
are the mature-bodied fast bowlers in the group, while there remains a
chance of Ryan Harris recovering from injury in time for the series
against Sri Lanka.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Brydon Coverdale
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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