Pat Cummins out of Adelaide Test with injury, Steve Smith returns as Australia Test captain
Cummins went through 40 minutes of running work on Tuesday but did not bowl and he was scrubbed from the match before Australia trained on Wednesday.
Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the Adelaide Test for the second year running after not recovering from the quad strain he picked up in Perth.
Scott Boland, who averages 9.55 after his three Ashes Tests last year, will come back into the side to face West Indies and is likely to form a pace attack with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green.
Cummins went through 40 minutes of running work on Tuesday but did not bowl and he was scrubbed from the match before Australia trained on Wednesday.
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"Team medical staff commenced Cummins' recovery in Adelaide but selectors deemed there was not sufficient time for the fast bowler to be fully fit for the match, which starts tomorrow," a statement said. "Cummins is expected to return for the opening Test match against South Africa in Brisbane."
It means that Steven Smith will captain the Test after he also stood in for Cummins last year when he was deemed a Covid-19 close contact.
With a crammed Test schedule where Australia play five matches in little more than five weeks, managing the fast bowlers will be key for the selectors. The tour of India, which includes four Tests, then begins in early February.
With Australia playing two series in Asia following last summer's Ashes, and then Josh Hazlewood returning in Perth last week, Boland has yet to add to his three caps, but there is the belief that he will be well suited to the pink ball in Adelaide.
Boland's spectacular Test debut, where he claimed 6 for 7, came on an MCG wicket that Nathan Lyon said closely resembled what is traditionally produced for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
"That wicket last year was pretty similar to an Adelaide wicket. It's probably the closest a drop-in MCG wicket has been," Lyon said. "I don't think many things will change. His confidence is up and so it should be. His skill set has always been at the top in my eyes. He hits me in the pad for fun when I play him in state cricket. But what I see in Scott now is his confidence level has gone up a little."
Boland bowled impressively during training on Tuesday evening, giving a number of batters a difficult time, as those who had been used in Perth were carefully managed.
