Ashes 2025: There are high chances that the host might be playing the 4th Test match without the services of star fast bowler Pat Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon. This was the first time that Cummins played in the longest format after a long injury layoff, and although he performed well in Adelaide, he might not play in the 4th match to stay injury-free.
“We’ll wait and see. Now that the series has been won, there might be a sense of job’s done, and let’s kind of reassess a risk,” he told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“So we’ll work on it over the next couple of days. I doubt I’ll be playing Melbourne, and then we’ll have a chat about Sydney. But certainly, while the series was live, let’s take on the risk and have a crack at it,” he added.
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Lyon, too, is uncertain to play as he sustained a hamstring injury while fielding on Sunday.
He underwent scans and was then seen on crutches.
“It doesn’t look great. Don’t know yet, but seeing someone on crutches doesn’t really bode well for someone with a Test match a week away,” he added.
“It’s going to be hard to replace him, but we have some guys who have already had a taste of international cricket around the traps,” he said.
Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann might replace him in the playing XI.
Steve Smith, who was the stand-in captain for the first two matches, gave the third match a miss owing to vertigo symptoms.
He was then seen back in the training session and will most likely return in the 4th match, and that means Josh Inglis will be snubbed, and Usman Khawaja will bat at the No.5 position as Travis Head might open again.
Ashes win ‘hugely satisfying.’
The Australian captain on Sunday admitted that retaining the post after three Tests was ‘hugely satisfying’ and promised not mess things up in Melbourne.
The host won the match by 82 runs in Adelaide after winning the first two matches in Perth and Brisbane and retained the Ashes with two matches remaining.
“There was so much hype coming into the series, and you never really know how it will play out,” he added.
“So, winning in three Tests is hugely satisfying for many reasons. A lot of the chat before the series was about how evenly poised it was going to be, and to win in straight Tests, it doesn’t get much better than that,” he said.
Just 5 days remain for the next Test match in Melbourne, and Cummins revealed that they won't take their foot off the gas in Melbourne.
“The goal was to win the Ashes. But you’re not going into a Test match not wanting to win, so we’ll go to Melbourne and absolutely be desperate to win that one and Sydney,” he added.
“And if we get 5-0, it’s amazing, but I can’t say that’s been spoken about at all. It’s always just been about how we’re going to navigate our way through to three wins,” he concluded.