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Australia Senior Player Withdraws from Upcoming Limited-overs Games, Set to Take A Break from White-ball Cricket

Sreejita Sen

Last updated: July 12, 2025

3 min read

The ODI and Test captain of Australia, Pat Cummins, has decided to skip the T20I and ODI series against South Africa, starting on August 10. The pacer has made this decision to shift his focus to the upcoming Ashes. The Aussies will host their arch-rivals England for an enthralling five-match long high-octane red-ball series, which will kick off on November 21.

Pat Cummins will be back in New Zealand and India series

Previously, the pacer was one of the rested players, alongside Mitchell Starc, Travis Head and the new-joiner Josh Hazlewood, for the five-match T20I series to finish off the West Indies tour. However, he is set to make a comeback in the limited-overs series against New Zealand and India.

“I’ll have a good training block for the next couple of months, six weeks or so. Probably not bowling, but lots of gym work. [My] body feels pretty good. So it’ll probably look like white-ball [cricket]…we’ve got some [matches against] New Zealand, India, potentially a Shield game and then into the home summer,” stated the pacer ahead of the third Test in Kingston.

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Notably, the initial matches of the next season’s Sheffield Shield would be crucial for Australia ahead of the mega Ashes series at home. The Men in Yellow are yet to resolve the top-order issues, following the retirement of great Australian batter David Warner. Recently, former English pacer Stuart Broad also made a scathing remark on the team’s top-three combination.

However, 19-year-old Sam Konstas will get two more chances at least to prove his abilities in the format, during the final Test against the West Indies. Veteran batter Usman Khawaja would also look to put an end to the continuous buzz around his recent poor form, while all-rounder Cameron Green would want to carry on with the momentum after his second-innings 52 in Grenada.

Cummins in recent limited-overs matches

The 32-year-old has captained the 50-over side only twice since leading them to a record sixth ODI WC title in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023. Earlier, Cummins also missed the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 due to a niggle in the ankle, which continued from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series 2024-25, at home. He last featured in two initial 50-over fixtures of the three-match home series against Pakistan in November 2024.

Moreover, the pacer is yet to appear in a 20-over match since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year. He finished with nine wickets in five matches after a 24-run defeat against India in the Super Eights ended Australia’s campaign in the tournament.

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