Cummins hoping to stay fit for 'unprecedented' 21-Test stretch

Topic:Cricket

Pat Cummins and his Australian team are staring down 21 Tests in the next 12 months. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)

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Pat Cummins is holding out hope he can play the entirety of Australia's busiest 12 months on record, but admits it will be "very surprising" if all of the big-three quicks manage to.

The Test captain has pulled up well on return from the IPL, where he played his first competitive matches in four months after a back injury curtailed his Ashes.

"Body feels awesome," Cummins said at a media event for Amazon Prime's coverage of the women's Twenty20 World Cup.

"I got a scan, all sweet, so now it's the next step up, which is getting ready to bowl 20 overs in a day and wake up and do it again in a Test match."

Cummins will gradually increase his bowling loads throughout June and July in preparation for a 12 month-period that will feature up to 21 Tests.

By the following August, the Test side will have returned to South Africa for the first time since the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering saga, embarked upon a legacy-defining tour of India and fought to retain the Ashes in England.

They will also play a home series against New Zealand, the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG and possibly the World Test Championship final at Lord's.

The so-called "big-three" quicks, Cummins, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood, typically plan to feature in every Test match of a home summer.

Cummins acknowledged things might be different this time, but still hoped to be on deck for every Test.

"The lucky thing is I haven't played much in the last year or so, so I'm actually coming in physically as good as I possibly could be," Cummins said.

"I'm kind of hoping that I play all of them, but I'm sure things will pop up along the way.

"It'd be very surprising if the same three bowlers played in 21 of the Tests … there might be a little bit of chopping and changing. It's kind of unprecedented."

Back-up pacemen Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson and Brendan Doggett filled the void when injuries struck Hazlewood and Cummins over the 4-1 Ashes win last summer.

Cummins has acknowledged white-ball cricket will need to take a back seat in order for him to achieve his goal of playing every Test, with a BBL cameo this summer less likely than ever.

"It's prioritising the Test matches and then, outside of that, there won't be too much," Cummins said.

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"There's some white-ball cricket but I think some of that might be how you pull up from the Test matches."

Cummins also insisted ultra-accurate Hazlewood was still a realistic proposition for regular Test cricket after hamstring and Achilles tendon injuries sidelined him from the entire Ashes.

The 35-year-old has played only 10 of Australia's last 20 Tests, but Cummins was pleased to see him back to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru win last month's IPL final.

"Bowling seems a funny one. You can get on a bit of a roll and play a lot," he said.