Plan to start bowling after 4-6 weeks, says injured Pat Cummins

New Delhi: Australia skipper Pat Cummins is keeping his fingers crossed on his full recovery for participation in the Ashes series later this year.

The seamer is recovering from a lumbar bone stress injury and believes he needs at least four-six weeks more to recover before he could start bowling.

The 32-year-old has been left out of their squad for the white-ball series against New Zealand and India and is advised to do very little of running during the recovery period.

He is also expected to skip Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield matches for a return to the side at the opening Ashes Test against England in Perth from November 21.

"I'd imagine (I'd want to be bowling) at minimum a month out, maybe six weeks," Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"But I've not thought that deeply about it yet. It's still a bit of a wait and see. We've got plenty of time, so we'll map a way back when we get closer."

"At the moment for the next few weeks it's pretty light. Not much running and zero bowling," he added.

The right armer suffered from a sore back during Australia's Test series win against the West Indies nearly two months ago, with tests later revealing the injury to be much more serious than initially anticipated.

But Cummins said the depth of Australia's bowling line-up is sufficient to cover up his absence with seamer Scott Boland routinely being a handy option in the event of an injury to a key bowler.

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"We feel really well placed. A lot of planning goes in. It's not just a month before, it's 12 months out. Someone like Jhye Richardson hopefully he will be available for some of the summer," he said.

"There's (Michael) Neser, Brendan Doggett was part of squads last year, Sean Abbott. So I'm really confident in our depth. Obviously there is a bit of Shield cricket and white-ball cricket before that to make sure everyone is up and raring to go," he said.