SYDNEY: Skipper Pat Cummins has poured cold water on Australia fielding four frontline fast bowlers during the Ashes series against England, saying it was “very unlikely” spinner Nathan Lyon will be overlooked.

Lyon was dropped for Australia’s last Test, against the West Indies in Jamaica, a pink-ball match they won inside three days.

Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc took 6-9 and Scott Boland claimed a hat-trick as the hosts crumbled to 27 all out.

It was the first time Lyon had not played a Test in 12 years.

But Cummins, who is battling a back injury to be fit for the first Ashes Test in Perth on November 21, said it was a different scenario to the pitches that will greet Ben Stokes’s England.

“I’d find it very unlikely that we would go away from Gaz [Lyon] at all this summer,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday. “Kingston was extreme — pink-ball conditions, long grass, an up-and-down wicket. I’d almost guarantee there won’t be four quicks this summer, especially with a couple of all-rounders in the team as well.

“You probably need to look at the pitch and basically think it’s going to be a terrible two-and-a-half day, or a three-day pitch. In Kingston, we didn’t think the game was going to see a fourth day. Most games in Australia, even if it’s green, you think it could get flat and you’ll be wanting Gaz.”

Lyon generally thrives on home soil, where he has bagged 268 of his 562 Test wickets at an average of 31.08. Should he line up for his 140th Test in Perth, as expected, he can surpass Glenn McGrath to become the sixth-highest wicket-taker in history by claiming two more scalps.

The big question for Australia remains the fitness of Cummins, who said last week he was “probably less likely than likely” to play the Ashes opener.

Should he bow out, Boland is expected to lead the assault alongside Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

England are bringing a pace-heavy attack for the five-Test series, spearheaded by Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood. They have only one specialist spinner in Shoaib Bashir.

Whether England opt for an all-pace attack in Perth remains to be seen, but selectors will be conscious that their spinners have frequently struggled in Australian conditions.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2025