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Australia captain pat cummins Kept everyone guessing on the eve of the second Ashes Test, leaving the door open to a dramatic comeback brisbane,
Cummins missed out on helping his team win Perth Due to a back injury and subsequently ruled him out of the squad for this week’s day/night at the Gabba.
But he has continued to train with his teammates and, although Cummins has never been officially included in their roster, Australia are certainly on the fence about whether he will still be able to make the final eleven.
stand-in captain steve smith He attended the captain’s press conference before the match but did not give any guarantee that he would lead the team.
He indicated that the team would be announced after a final assessment of the pitch, but after a lengthy review, which also included Cummins and head coach Andrew McDonald, it was confirmed that Australia would not name their team until the toss.
This will happen at 2pm local time, or 3.30am in the United Kingdom.
“There are a lot of things on the table. We will wait and see how the wicket looks and from there we will decide the playing XI,” Smith said.
“(Cummins) I feel great, he has bowled in the nets. Obviously, games are of different intensities, of course, but he is tracking well and he knows his body well. We will wait and see.”
Brendan Doggett, who took five wickets on debut last time out, is the most likely replacement if the captain returns, although there has been some speculation over the role of spinner Nathan Lyon.
Yorkshire-born Josh Inglis is expected to return to the middle order in place of Beau Webster, with Usman Khawaja injured and Travis Head set to open again after a match-winning century in Perth as a stand-in.