“Pat Cummins is experiencing some mild right-sided quadricep soreness,” a CA official said. “He will continue to be monitored by team medical staff and his availability to bowl in the second innings will be assessed on an ongoing basis. Steve Smith will captain the side while Cummins is off the field.”
Australia’s selectors did have a loose plan in place as to how they would manage their fast bowlers across five back-to-back Tests this summer with a massive Test workload ahead in 2023, including tours of India and England.
The resting of some individuals is a possibility. The selectors’ management plan was entirely dependent on how much Australia’s quicks would bowl and the types of surfaces they would bowl on, with only a four-day break between the Perth and Adelaide Tests against West Indies before breaks of just five, four and four days ahead of each of the three Tests against South Africa.