Australia captain Pat Cummins has not resumed bowling after suffering a back injury and will miss the opening Ashes tests against England in Perth in late November, multiple local media outlets reported on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old fast bowler is recovering from a lower back stress injury that has troubled him since Australia's tour of the West Indies earlier this year.
The Sydney Morning Herald, citing sources, reported that back scans last week revealed the injury had not yet healed, ruling Cummins out of the Perth clash and putting in doubt his participation in all five tests in the blockbuster series. Cricket Australia said they had no update on Cummins' fitness.
If Cummins is not fit to play in Perth from November 21, former skipper Steve Smith is likely to captain the team with Scott Boland joining the pace attack.
There are higher chances of the pacer missing out on the entire series after the latest scans revealed that his back stress problem has not yet fully healed, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Australia and England will clash against each other in the five-match Test series, scheduled to kick start from November 21. The first game is scheduled to be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Cummins, who was optimistic about featuring in the Ashes series, seems to have no chance of making his appearance in the opening match. In case the 32-year-old pacer misses out on featuring in the series, Steve Smith would likely be an automatic choice for the stand-in captaincy role.
Cummins underwent a scan just last week to track his progress and was told that the "hot spot" of the stress was still healing and bowling right now would not be advisable, revealed the sources.
The update will likely delay his return to play until the last few weeks of the year and make it very challenging for him to speed up in time to participate in a tightly scheduled Ashes series. Cricket Australia has not commented so far.
If Cummins misses out on the initial matches of the series, it would be helpful for the Australians to add the likes of Scott Boland as the third pace bowling option along with Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc.