Dizzy: Let a fit Pat fire again
JASON Gillespie believes pace spearhead Pat Cummins should start the second Test in Adelaide if fit.
Cruelled by back and foot injuries, Cummins has played in just six Tests since his 2011 debut but the 24- year- old appears to have come through unscathed from the first Test in Brisbane and is likely to back up despite the short turnaround.
“If he is fit and wants to play he will play, I would have thought. If you are fit and strong, feeling good, play a game. Brett Lee hated being asked to rest,” former Test fastbowler Gillespie said. Selector Greg Chappell said yesterday that it would be near imp o s s i b l e for Aust r a l i a ’ s m e n a c i n g pace trio to last the distance this Ashes series.
“I know there has been a rotation policy in the past and that turned to informed player management which is translation for rotation,” said Test great Gillespie. “We will see how the hierarchy go about it and what the sports science department decide what is best for the bowlers.”
Selectors will be mindful Mitch Starc was grabbing his ankle in the latter stages of the first Test in Brisbane and limped out of the India tour after the second Test in March with a foot stress fracture. Josh Hazlewood sustained a side strain in the first Test against Bangladesh during August.
“The chances of getting three fast bowlers through five Tests in the time period isn’t that good so we have to weigh all those things up. It is hard to change a winning team but we will look at the conditions, pink ball and whether Chadd Sayers comes in,” Chappell said.