Pat Cummins miraculously recovers for 2nd Ashes Test, Australia postpone announcement

After the Australian cricket team delayed the announcement of their playing XI for the pink-ball Test at the Gabba, expectations have been raised high on Pat Cummins' probable return for the Australian side. The skipper was also seen in practice sessions alongside Mitchell Starc.

The return of the Australian skipper is on the brink, but Steve Smith is still serving as the stand-in skipper as he attended the pre-match conference. Speaking about the pitch, Smith said that it looked green from afar, but with the weather being dry, it might look different.

"It's still quite grassy, a little soft," Smith said. "It's obviously going to bake under the sun again today, and I think [the curator] is going to take a little bit off it, so it might look a little bit different in a couple hours' time."

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Pat Cummins can return for the second Ashes Test at the Gabba

Pat Cummins has a chance to make it back to the Australian playing XI for the second Test at the Gabba, as a final decision is to be made on Wednesday by the selectors and the team management.

His inclusion would come as a great surprise after he was not named in the 14-member squad announced for the Second Test.

"He looks pretty good to me the way he's bowled in the nets," Smith said. "Obviously, games are a different intensity, for sure, but he's tracking really nicely. He knows his body well, and yeah, we'll wait and see," he added.

If Pat Cummins does not replace Nathan Lyon, then he is most likely to replace debutant Brendan Doggett, who backed Australia by bagging 5 wickets at Perth. However, since Pat Cummins has been out of action for over 4 months now, his bowling loads would likely be less than usual.

Usman Khawaja is to be replaced; Steve Smith fails to provide updates

Australia might look to replace injured opener Usman Khawaja after his injury during the Perth Test. Josh Inglis currently appears to be the best batter on show after his recent Sheffield Shield hundred. He is asked to be slotted into the middle order, with Travis Head likely to be promoted at the top.

Beau Webster, the all-rounder, also remains in the mix, and maybe such decisions are taking some time, as a result of which the Aussies did not announce their XI.

"A whole heap of things I think are on the table," Smith said. "We'll wait and see what the wicket looks like, and from there we'll determine a playing XI."

"I'm not sure," Steve Smith said on Nathan Lyon's availability for the pink-ball Test

A strong possibility is that if Pat Cummins is considered for a return to the Australian playing XI at Gabba, their only spinner, Nathan Lyon, might be rested for the game. Lyon was left out of Australia's most recent day-night Test in Jamaica.

He had also bowled just a single over with the pink ball during the previous such Test against India during last year's Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Dating back to 2022, he did not bowl a single ball in the Ashes pink-ball Test at Hobart and also did not bowl many during the first Test at Perth.

"I'm not sure," Smith said. "We'll look at the surface, as I said, and we'll sum things up from there. And I think here's a place where Nathan's done really well in the past. He's a quality bowler. But we'll weigh up the options, and we'll see how we go."

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