Pat Cummins to miss Bangladesh tour due to stress fracture; Faulkner named as replacement
Young Australian speedster Pat Cummins will miss out on his country’s tour of Bangladesh because of a serious stress fracture injury to his back. This is a big blow to the 22-year old talented fast bowler who appeared to be returning to form for Australia in the recently concluded ODI series in England.
His first and only Test for Australia came way back in 2011 against South Africa. With the absence of Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood for the tour of Bangladesh, this was probably Cummins’ best chance to cement his place in the Test squad.
Cummins has had an injury-marred career throughout having missed out on the whole summer of 2012-13 owing to a similar back injury. Recurrence of the same injury led him to miss the first half of the 2013-14 domestic season. Although Cummins’ return date is unknown, his Big Bash League team – Sydney Thunder – has already stated that he will miss this season’s tournament.
According to Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley, Cummins faces a lengthy rehabilitation program.
“Pat Cummins experienced lower back pain during the last ODI match in the UK and this pain continued upon his return to Australia. He subsequently underwent an MRI scan yesterday which, unfortunately, has revealed a new early stage lumbar bone stress fracture,” Beakley said.
Cummins received words of encouragement from former Australian skipper Michael Clarke who took to Twitter to wish the young pacer a speedy recovery.
James Faulkner named as replacement
The selectors have opted to choose James Faulkner as Cummins’ replacement. Although he is a regular in the shorter format for Australia, the 25-year old all-rounder played his only Test in the 2013 Ashes series. In fact, his last match for Australia in any format was the 2015 ICC World Cup Final, in which he was awarded the Man of the Match.
He missed the recent series against England as he was suspended following a drink and drive incident in the UK while playing for his county side Lancashire. Chief selector Rod Marsh believes that Faulkner’s bowling could come in handy in the conditions that Australia might face in Bangladesh.
Squad: Steven Smith (c), Adam Voges (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, James Faulkner, Andrew Fekete, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill (wk), Steve O'Keefe, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc.