Ashes 2025-26: Josh Hazlewood Ruled Out Of Remainder Of Test Series With Injury, Pat Cummins Likely To Return For Adelaide Test

Josh Hazlewood Ruled Out Of Ashes 2025-26: In a major blow to Australia, senior pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series against England in the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 due to an injury issue. Having already missed the first two matches, which Australia won to go 2-0 up, Hazlewood will not be available for the upcoming three games.

Hazlewood has been dealing with injury issues lately, forcing him to miss key matches and series. The right-arm pacer hurt his hamstring when featuring in Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield competition last month. He suffered a setback last week when he hurt his Achilles, with Australia coach Andrew McDonald revealing on Tuesday that the pacer would miss the entire Test summer.

Hazlewood will now focus on recovering in time for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup that commences on February 7. "Unfortunately, Josh won't be a part of the Ashes," McDonald said.

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"Really, really flat for him. A couple of setbacks that we didn't see coming, and we thought he would play a huge part in the series. It's a totally separate injury. It's somewhere lower in the calf to the Achilles region. His preparation will then shift towards the World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us."

The hosts, meanwhile set to get a major boost as well with the regular skipper Pat Cummins likely returning for the next Test in Adelaide, which is scheduled to start from December 17. Cummins has also been on the sidelines for the first two matches as Steve Smith led the side in his absence. "His body's ready to go and barring anything else happening in the next week, I'd be expecting Pat to be tossing the coin and putting the blazer on," McDonald said.

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Notably, Cummins was extremely close to playing the second Test at the Gabba, where the Aussies registered another dominating win by 8 wickets. "There won't be any match opportunities for Pat, and this is something we've done with Pat before, off long layoffs, where we've put some time and effort into rebuilding his body," McDonald said.

"He was out at Allan Border Field, while everyone was out at the Gabba. So he simulated pretty much what a match will look like out there with multiple spells. So we feel as though he'll be as well prepared as he can be.

"He was well ahead of where we thought he'd be at. And it did create a real live conversation for Brisbane, the skill readiness, the loads, and how he was pulling up. It was debated a lot leading into that Test match. So with that in mind, us seeing him further advanced, we feel it'd be really well placed for the challenges of Adelaide, albeit a long way off. We feel as though the simulation in the nets has him skill-ready."