Captain Pat Cummins will miss a second successive Adelaide Test after being ruled out because of injury.
He has been replaced by Victorian fast bowler Scott Boland, who will return to the Australia men’s team for the second Test against the West Indies.
Pat Cummins will miss the Adelaide Test.Credit:Getty
Boland will play his fourth Test match for Australia as the second Indigenous male player to play Test cricket after Jason Gillespie.
Cummins has not recovered fully from a quadriceps strain suffered in the opening Test in Perth. Steve Smith will captain the team in Adelaide.
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 on Thursday.
Cummins is expected to return for the opening Test against South Africa in Brisbane.
He missed last season’s Adelaide Test because of strict COVID-19 protocols after being in the same restaurant as someone who was infected.
Smith also captained on that occasion, on a rushed morning which marked his return to the top job in Australian cricket for the first time since 2018’s ball-tampering scandal.
Things are more controlled in Adelaide this year, with Cummins having been considered a 50-50 chance at best by medical staff since Sunday.
The 29-year-old is expected to be fit for the first Test against South Africa, starting at the Gabba on December 17.
Boland’s recall comes after he took 18 wickets at an average of 9.55 in the only three Tests of his career during last summer’s Ashes.
Lance Morris and Michael Neser remain in the squad as back up for Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, but are unlikely to be used.
Starc and Hazlewood bowled more than 40 overs in Perth on a tight turnaround, but neither appear to have significant issues out of the match.
