The Ashes 2015: Pat Cummins replacing Ryan Harris a calculated risk by Cricket Australia

PAT Cummins replacing the retired Ryan Harris in the cauldron of an Ashes series is a calculated risk by Cricket Australia.

CWC: Cricket World Cup Australia vs. Scotland, Bellerive Oval. BYLINE: LUKE BOWDEN: Pat Cummins bowling

Pat Cummins hasn’t so much as held a red cricket ball in two years, but Cricket Australia is adamant the young star they’ve called into the Ashes squad as Ryan Harris’ replacement will prove he is anything but “injury prone”.

The 22-year-old fast bowler is suddenly in the frame to add to his fabled one and only Test match in Johannesburg back in 2011, despite CA’s original plans to manage and even limit the amount of first-class cricket he was to play this year.

It would appear to be a calculated risk to bring Cummins into the cauldron of an Ashes series, given the original plan was to ease him back into heavier workloads with a “reasonable” amount of four-day cricket between now and the end of the year after he’d ticked the first box of getting through the World Cup in February-March.

Cummins hasn’t seen any red ball action for the past two years.

Cummins was to tour India with Australia A this month and then be kept on a short leash for the start of NSW’s Sheffield Shield season. But now he looks set to play in Australia’s Ashes tour match against Derbyshire before the third Test — opening the prospect of him playing in one of the final three matches of an Ashes series.

Of course Cummins’ may still be set for only a “reasonable” amount of cricket, but for a kid who was kept on an exclusively white ball diet last summer, it’s now entirely conceivable he could be asked to make a massive step up should Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or Peter Siddle drop down the pecking order for whatever reason over the course of the five matches.

Harris’ exit has exposed the fact Australia are now just one more injury away from semi panic stations.

Ryan Harris called time on his career this week due to persistent injury.

In an interview with News Corp a week before the Ashes tour got underway, head of team performance Pat Howard dismissed assumptions that Cummins was injury prone but admitted managing the right-arm tearaway remained a balancing act.

“We’ve all got a vested interest in him playing more red ball cricket, but also not him missing months on end,” Howard told News Corp in June.

“That’s a fine line easier said than done and we’ll try to get a really good outcome.

“It’s time for him to play some red ball cricket. He wants to, he’s desperate and we’ve got to try and … get a great outcome for him.

Cummins himself has been troubled by injury concerns throughout his career.

“This is a bloke who people thought was injury prone, and he’s not. But he’s still a young man. We want to ramp him up without blowing him up.”

Cummins has been working around the clock at the National Cricket Centre building up his bowling loads, however he hasn’t played a first-class match since Australia A took on South Africa A in Rustenburg back in August, 2013.

Howard says the management of Cummins to white ball cricket only was one of the masterstrokes of 2013-14 — with the youngster’s only setback a very minor side strain which kept him out of two World Cup fixtures as a precaution.

But with James Pattinson unavailable due to a body-management plan of his own, Cummins screamed out as the next cab off the rank when it became clear Harris was cooked.

In many ways calling Cummins onto the Ashes tour is a golden opportunity to steel him for the years ahead where he will ideally playing a leading role for Australia.

Cummins will be able to seek advice from Harris, who is remaining with the squad, over the coming weeks and will gain valuable experience in English conditions and back around the Test set-up.

Who could forget Cummins’ seven-wicket haul and match-winning runs in the thrilling second Test match in Johannesburg nearly four years ago?

His Test bowling average is 16.71.

Since then though injuries set in and Cummins has been a closely monitored asset ever since.

“Rod Marsh and I have had some communication with him and Cricket NSW,” said Howard.

“(We’ve) definitely been looking to bring him back and have him playing a reasonable amount of red ball. What does reasonable mean? How long is a piece of string?”

Cummins is unlikely to fly to England until today at the earliest.

Originally published as The Ashes 2015: Pat Cummins replacing Ryan Harris a calculated risk by Cricket Australia