Overview

• The Australia captain will miss the Perth Test starting 21 November after the back “hot spot” was not cleared in last week’s scan.
• Cricket Australia has declined to comment on the update as Cummins continues rehab without resuming bowling or running.
• Steve Smith is widely expected to captain in his absence, with Scott Boland the frontrunner to join Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the pace attack.
• A best-case timeline reported points to a late-series return in December, leaving limited time to regain match readiness in a tightly scheduled summer.
• Cummins has not played since July’s West Indies Tests and is already out of recent series and the upcoming ODIs and T20s against India.