Pat Cummins to miss South Africa white-ball series, focuses on Ashes preparation

Kingston [Jamaica], July 12 (ANI): Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins is set to sit out next month's white-ball series against South Africa as he shifts focus to building up his fitness ahead of the Ashes later this year, as per ESPNcricinfo.
Cummins had already been rested from the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies, along with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head. Now, fellow fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who was initially named in the squad for South Africa, will also return home following the Test series. Xavier Bartlett has been drafted in as his replacement.
"I'll have a good training block for the next couple of months, six weeks or so," Cummins told reporters, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"Probably not bowling, but lots of gym work. (My) body feels pretty good, but there's always little bits and pieces you're always trying to get right and then build up for the summer. So it'll probably look like white-ball (cricket)...we've got some (matches against) New Zealand, India, potentially a Shield game and then into the home summer," he added.
Cummins, who remains Australia's ODI captain, has only led the team twice in the format since lifting the World Cup in 2023. He also missed the Champions Trophy earlier this year as he managed an ongoing ankle issue during the Test series against India.
As attention turns toward the Ashes, the early rounds of the next Sheffield Shield season are shaping up to be crucial in finalizing Australia's top-order combination. Sam Konstas will have two more innings against the West Indies to press his case, Usman Khawaja has the same number of chances to silence questions around his form. Cameron Green will aim to build on his second-innings fifty in Grenada and is likely to play in South Africa before shifting his focus to regaining his bowling rhythm.
Green remains part of the T20I squad in the West Indies, while Konstas is expected to be involved in the four-day Australia A tour of India in September. Khawaja, on the other hand, may not play again until the domestic season resumes for Queensland.
"There's a lot of Shield cricket to come and some Aussie A stuff as well," Cummins said.
"I think (if) you do well at Test level, any time it's going to kind of make your case more compelling. I think there's a bit of a connection to the summer, but it feels a long way away at the moment," he noted.
Xavier Bartlett, who has enjoyed an impressive start to his T20I career with 11 wickets at an average of 14.72 from seven matches, will join the squad in the Caribbean after a strong Major League Cricket (MLC) campaign with the San Francisco Unicorns, where he currently leads the tournament's wicket charts.
He'll be joined by Jake Fraser-McGurk, who replaces Spencer Johnson. Johnson is recovering from a back issue sustained during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Fraser-McGurk, who also played for the Unicorns, started the MLC brightly but ended with four single-digit scores in his last five innings.
He has scored 113 runs from seven T20Is, with a best of 50 against Scotland last year. However, he struggled during this year's IPL with the Delhi Capitals (DC), averaging just 9.16. His Big Bash League (BBL) form for the Melbourne Renegades was also modest, with 188 runs at 18.80--95 of those coming in the last game of the season.
The T20I series against West Indies begins on July 20, with the first two matches at Sabina Park, followed by three games in St Kitts. (ANI)