{"id":3090,"date":"2026-03-26T10:16:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/?p=3090"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:16:44","slug":"pat-cummins-targets-summer-return-after-back-injury-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/pat-cummins-targets-summer-return-after-back-injury-setback\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Cummins Targets Summer Return After Back Injury Setback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Australia\u2019s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has provided a definitive timeline for his return to competitive cricket following a recurring back injury that sidelined him during the latter half of the 2025-26 season. In an official update shared by the ICC, Cummins revealed that he has commenced a low-intensity rehabilitation program in Sydney, with the goal of being match-fit for the high-stakes tour of England scheduled for late 2026. The 32-year-old speedster emphasized that while the recovery is &#8220;on track,&#8221; he will adopt a cautious approach to avoid long-term damage to his bowling spine, potentially skipping the early rounds of domestic white-ball fixtures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The injury, described as a minor stress reaction, forced Cummins to miss the final stages of Australia&#8217;s recent home summer, raising concerns about his workload management across all three formats. &#8220;The focus is entirely on being at 100% for the Ashes and the subsequent World Test Championship cycle,&#8221; Cummins stated, acknowledging that he may have to &#8220;pick and choose&#8221; his appearances in franchise cricket to prioritize national duties. With Mitchell Marsh currently leading the white-ball side in his absence, Cricket Australia\u2019s medical team is reportedly working on a customized &#8220;return-to-play&#8221; blueprint that involves a gradual increase in bowling intensity over the next four months to ensure the premier pacer is ready for the rigors of five-day cricket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia\u2019s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has provided a definitive timeline for his return&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3092,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3090\/revisions\/3092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theimphalreporter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}