Ashes 2025-26: Cummins, Lyon doubtful for Boxing Day Test; Steve Smith expected to return

Australia faces the possibility of going into the fourth Ashes Test without pace spearhead Pat Cummins and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon.

Cummins played his first Test since July in Adelaide after a long layoff with lower back issues and, while he came through unscathed, he said he might skip Melbourne to be on the safe side.

“We’ll wait and see. Now that the series has been won, there might be a sense of job’s done, and let’s kind of reassess a risk,” he said.

“So we’ll work on it over the next couple of days. I doubt I’ll be playing Melbourne, and then we’ll have a chat about Sydney. But certainly, while the series was live, let’s take on the risk and have a crack at it.”

There is huge uncertainty around Lyon, who pulled a hamstring on Sunday while fielding on the boundary.

He went for scans and was later seen on crutches on the ground.

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“It doesn’t look great. Don’t know yet, but seeing someone on crutches doesn’t really bode well for someone with a Test match a week away,” said Cummins.

“It’s going to be hard to replace him, but we have some guys who have already had a taste of international cricket around the traps.”

They include Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann.

Steve Smith, who stood in for Cummins as skipper in the first two Tests, missed Adelaide after pulling out just before the toss with vertigo symptoms.

But he was seen back in the nets and is expected to be ready for Melbourne, meaning Josh Inglis may drop out with Usman Khawaja moving to number five if Travis Head retains the opening role.

Ashes win ‘hugely satisfying’

The elated Australia skipper said on Sunday that retaining the Ashes after just three Tests was ‘hugely satisfying’ and vowed no let-up in Melbourne.

Australia has been dominant all series with its 82-run win in Adelaide coming on the back of eight-wicket thumpings at Perth and Brisbane, securing the famous urn with two Tests still to play.

“There was so much hype coming into the series, and you never really know how it will play out,” said Cummins.

“So, winning in three Tests is hugely satisfying for many reasons. A lot of the chat before the series was about how evenly poised it was going to be, and to win in straight Tests, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

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There are only five days until the fourth Test starts in Melbourne on December 26, and Cummins was adamant that Australia will not take its foot off the gas there or in the final Test in Sydney, which starts on January 4.

“The goal was to win the Ashes. But you’re not going into a Test match not wanting to win, so we’ll go to Melbourne and absolutely be desperate to win that one and Sydney,” he said.

“And if we get 5-0, it’s amazing, but I can’t say that’s been spoken about at all. It’s always just been about how we’re going to navigate our way through to three wins.”

Published on Dec 21, 2025