Adelaide [Australia], December 10 : Australia's skipper Pat Cummins is poised to make his comeback in the third Ashes Test against England, having been included in the 15-player squad for the Adelaide match o Wednesday.
Cummins is set to make his international comeback in the third Ashes Test against England in Adelaide on December 17, having overcome his back injury issues. The 32-year-old hasn't played at the international level since the third Test against the West Indies in July.
Cummins is the only addition to the Australian group that took a 2-0 series lead at the Gabba. There were no real surprises in the Australia squad that was named on Wednesday, with experienced batter Usman Khawaja retained in the squad as he tries to earn his place back in the XI following his own injury issue.
All-rounder Beau Webster and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon are also included in the 15-member group after they missed out on selection in the second Test in Brisbane that Australia won by eight wickets, with the pair pushing hard for a recall alongside Cummins for the Adelaide contest.
McDonald provided an update on Tuesday regarding Cummins and Hazlewood, stating that the captain is fit and set to make his return.
"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.
He also confirmed that Hazlewood is out for the remainder of the series after developing an Achilles problem on the back of his earlier hamstring injury.
"Unfortunately, Josh won't be a part of the Ashes. 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," McDonald added.
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.