'Injury-marred' Cummins ready to return to competitive cricket

Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins is reportedly ready to make a return to the cricket scene in his first competitive match since October last year following a back injury.

Cummins, who is yet to play a match on tour as he makes a safety-first return, has been training with the Australia A squad for the past couple of weeks, and will play the Northern Ireland Cricket Academy (NICA) against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) outside of Belfast, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

According to the report, the talented 20-year-old, who burst onto the scene for Australia in 2011 with only a couple of first-class matches under his belt, will then jump the fence and represent the MCC against an under-19 side from Ireland.

The report further said that if Cummins could make a strong return from injury over the coming months, he would come back into reckoning for the Ashes summer in Australia, although he is also likely to head to South Africa on an Australian A tour at the same time the Ashes is taking place in England.

Since making his international debut as an 18-year-old on the tour of South Africa in 2011, where he was man-of-the-match in a famous second Test victory, Cummins has battled a succession of injuries, from his foot to his upper back, the report added.