Harry Brook believes Pat Cummins potentially missing the start of the Ashes would play into English hands but warned that Australia’s depth in pace bowlers means any replacement should not be underestimated.
With just six weeks to go until the first Test in Perth, the fitness of Cummins remains a major talking point following the detection of a lower back stress injury earlier this year. According to some reports, his entire series could even be in jeopardy.
Andrew McDonald, Australia’s head coach, looked to temper those fears on Friday but conceded that, with his captain needing at least “four, four-and-a-half weeks” of bowling in the nets to get ready – something that is yet to get under way – it is getting “tight”.
For Brook, whose England white-ball side fly to New Zealand this weekend in advance of the Ashes tour, the loss of a quick who has dominated recent encounters – including notable success against Joe Root – would clearly be significant.
“Obviously he is an amazing bowler and has been for many years; he bowls at high pace with high skill,” said Brook, speaking at the Professional Cricketers’ Association Awards on Thursday. “With him out of their side for the first game, from [the reports] we’ve seen, hopefully that plays into our hands.
“But they have a hell of a lot of good, quick bowlers out there. Guys who can come into the side and, when their tails are up, they can plough through teams. So we can’t take anybody lightly.”
Scott Boland is the likeliest quick to replace Cummins and, having claimed 49 Test wickets on Australian soil at an average of 12.6, any drop-off with the ball should in theory be minimal. Thereafter Australia’s fast bowler stocks are untested, reflecting close to a decade of dominance by Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
While Australia sweat on Cummins, England are growing increasingly confident that Ben Stokes will be ready from the start of the series following the shoulder injury that saw him miss the fifth Test against India. The all-rounder has now returned to full training and has been building up his bowling both with Durham and at Loughborough.
The question of Stokes’s fitness is particularly acute for Brook, having replaced Ollie Pope as vice-captain for this tour and thus an injury away from leading the team for the first time in an away Ashes Test. Part of his role as consigliere will be to step in when Stokes is attempting one of his marathon spells and potentially prevent this from happening.
Brook said: “It’s an honour to have any leadership role. But it’s not something that I’m biting at the bit to do. If you want it too much, then it’s not a good thing. And I see Stokesy playing all five Tests, if I’m being honest. I think he’ll power through even if he has a little niggle.
“Everybody in the world knows what he’s like, his character and the way that he just cracks on. That is the way that the team is built now; everybody keeps going. If you do have a little niggle, just power through – and that is what he does so well.
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“Because he wants to bowl long spells, that can sometimes be to his detriment. But he told us last year as a group that if he gets into a position like that again, then go up and have a word with him.”
Brook was offered the role in the most casual of ways, the head coach, Brendon McCullum, adding “‘by the way Brooky, you’re vice-captain’” at the end of the phone call to denote his place in the squad. The 26-year-old suspected it was coming his way and says he and Pope have been in contact since.
“I dropped him a couple of messages a couple of weeks ago, talking about golf mainly,” said Brook. “I don’t think he’s too bothered; he’s just happy to still be in the squad. He is a vital part of the team, batting at No3, and we all know how valuable his runs are.”
As regards his own runs, once six white-ball internationals in New Zealand are out of the way, Brook will be playing his first red-ball cricket in Australia. A spell with Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League in 2021/22 returned only 44 runs from seven innings — an experience Brook described as going “horrendously” and one he is “trying to erase” from his memory.
Brook added: “I haven’t had too much experience of the pitches out there, so I have to stay in the moment as much as possible and play what’s in front of me.
“I don’t know what I’m stepping into. I know [an away Ashes] is a massive thing but I’m still trying to get over that India series. To play 25 days out of 25 days was mega. That was the most intense series I’ve ever been part of. If the Ashes tops that, I will be a very happy man.”
Asked if England will be returning home with urn, Brook replied: “I bloody hope so”.
