Australia captain Pat Cummins unsure if he will be fit for the start of the series against England

“Sometimes you may just get unlucky and you bowl lots of overs in, say, the World Test Championship final and that’s enough to start it, but through the West Indies I felt like it was a little sore but nothing [unusual] for a fast bowler. But once you get home and everything settles down, it hung around a little bit.”

Cummins has dealt with a back stress issue without missing a home Test at least once since he started playing consistent Test cricket in 2017. That was in 2018, when he suffered a stress fracture towards the end of the Sandpapergate tour of South Africa and was fit for the start of the home series against India later that year.

“I think I’ve been really lucky the last seven or eight years I haven’t really had much, so I missed the odd Test match here or there, but no real thing,” Cummins said.

“In 2018 I had a full-blown stress fracture that kept me out for an off-season.

“But I’ve had a really good run as fast bowling goes, and I’ve been really well looked after, which has got me through this many Tests. I’ve bowled a lot over the last few years, something was bound to happen at some point, but hopefully get this right and don’t miss too much cricket.”

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Even so, Cummins was open to discussing the pace bowling reserves that may be required, should his back not settle down in time – mentioning the likes of Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson as the next group behind Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland.

“We always talk about we need a lot of depth,” he said.

“We’ve been lucky in the last couple of years – we haven’t had to go past the four guys really, but guys like Sean Abbott and [Brendan Doggett], there’s four or five guys.

“Neser’s been around, Jhye Richardson, there’s guys who’ve been around the Test team the past few years, and haven’t had too many opportunities, but hopefully the other three are fighting fit, plus me, and we’ve got plenty of resources.”

There are still some 12 weeks before the first ball is bowled in Perth, but Cummins’ description of “three fighting fit, plus me”, did not inspire confidence.

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