Pat Cummins ready for return after injury – Cricket News Update
Australia's young pacer, Pat Cummins, is fit to make his return to international cricket after being hit by injury in his debut Test match against South Africa at Johannesburg, in November 2011.
The youngster is included in the under-19 squad for a quadrangular series featuring Australia, New Zealand, England and India in Queensland, starting next week from April 5 to 15.
The 18-year-old lad performed impressive in his debut Test match against the Proteas, where he picked 7 seven wickets and was declared the Man of the Match.
However, the talented pacer, in the same match, went into trouble, suffering a bone stress injury to his toe, which consequently led him to miss the entire Australian summer season which included contests against India, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
According to Cricket board Australia, Cummo has recovered well and will be undergoing different training programs, where his performance will be analyzed.
"Pat is at an advanced stage of his rehabilitation and we feel he will benefit from bowling in a competitive environment. He'll be on a restricted program and is being taken to Townsville so we can continue his progression and introduce some competition
time,” said CA physiotherapist Alex Kountouris.
CA General Manager, Pat Howard, told that the management has decided to include Cummins in the squad in order to get back him in competitive cricket so that the selectors can see his overall performance prior to giving him another chance at the international
level.
"His progress will be assessed on a day-by-day basis throughout the series to ensure his overall programme remains on track," said Howard.
The talented pacer made his international debut in an ODIs against South Africa, in Oct 2011. In his very first match, he left a strong impression behind with his crafty bowling while picking up 3 important scalps and thus compelled the selectors to pick
him for the 3-match Test series against the same team at the age of just 18.
Cummins’ return in the national team will definitely strengthen the bowling department along with Brett Lee, James Pattinson and Clint Mckay. The star bowler however, will have to prove his worth again in the upcoming warm-up event, which is ahead of ICC's
Under -19 World Cup, to be held in August this year.