Overview

• Fresh scans show the lumbar bone‑stress hot spot is improving but Cummins is not cleared to bowl, ruling him out of the Perth Test starting November 21.
• Multiple outlets report he could miss the entire five‑match series, with a best‑case return late in the summer still uncertain.
• Cricket Australia declined to comment publicly on his fitness, and no official decision on series availability has been announced.
• Steve Smith is widely expected to captain in Cummins’ absence, with Scott Boland likely to join Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the pace attack for Perth.
• Cummins has not bowled since mid-July and has been limited to gym work and cycling, with the compressed Ashes schedule complicating any rapid load build‑up.