Ashes: Steve Smith Back To Lead Australia In Opener Against England As Injured Skipper Pat Cummins 'Ran Out Of Time'

Australia vs England Ashes: Australia captain Pat Cummins has been formally ruled out of the series opener against England in Perth due to a back injury, with Steve Smith set to take the reins of the side in the pacer's absence.

The Australian captain has been out of action with a back stress injury since July and earlier this month, the speedster said that he was "less than likely" to feature in the first Test against England in Perth starting November 21.

"We've run out of time. We sort of flagged this a week or so ago that it would take sort of four plus weeks to get him up and running and we've run out of time, unfortunately, but really optimistic and hopeful for the second Test match," head coach Andrew McDonald told reporters.

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"We've grappled with it for a little while. The nature of the injury is that you never know and you're sort of taking it a day by day," he added.

McDonald stated that the talismanic pacer will restart bowling this week and is optimistic the skipper will be back to full fitness for the second Test in Brisbane, beginning December 4.

"He'll be back bowling this week, and that's a huge step. That was the big variable that we wanted to add in. We're on the journey to that second Test match, and very hopeful that that will be a positive outcome," McDonald said.

"We'll see how he pulls up and then we'll make decisions moving forward. I know that sounds really boring and everyone wants a time frame and what's the risk associated with it. There are better people than I to speculate on what that is," McDonald added.

Despite not participating in the opening Ashes match, Cummins will travel to Perth with the Test squad next month.

"Patty will be around the group as well, he'll come to Perth … and it'll almost be one of those things where you'll see him and it'll almost be a question of, 'Why isn't he playing in Perth?' That's where we think he'll be placed by that stage," said the coach.

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Smith, who has captained Australia six times in Cummins' absence since 2021, will lead the side.

"We flip into Steve Smith being the captain and we're incredibly fortunate to have such an experienced captain. He's filled in for Patty six times since Patty's taken over, so they're a good working sort of couple, so to speak. I don't want that to be a grab or anything, but they work well together and there'll be a nice handover and Patty will be around the group as well," McDonald said.