Ashes 2021: Pat Cummins says he will be 'ready' for potential captaincy amid captain Tim Paine's surgery

Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins who has taken 164 wickets and made 708 runs in 34 Tests he has played so far, stated on Wednesday that if regular Test skipper Tim Paine isn't healthy for the start of the Ashes series, he will be ready to share the responsibility of captaincy.

Australia have announced a 15-man team for the first two Ashes Tests, with skipper Tim Paine included despite having surgery to repair a bulging disc in his neck in September.

"Hopefully Tim will be fine, he's nearing 100 per cent ... But I'll be ready if I have to, but I doubt that," said Cummins to Channel Nine. If he finds the task difficult, the pacer says he can always seek advice from senior players in the team, including former captain Steve Smith and David Warner.

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"If I was in the role and I found it tough, at times, there's ten other guys I'd lean on out in the middle. You've got people like Smithy and Davey Warner who are incredibly experienced, all the bowlers are experienced and look after themselves pretty well so I'd have no issues handballing it over to other people to help out."

SinceFebruary,the28-year-oldhasnotplayedinafirst-classmatch.He also missed Australia's limited-overs trips to the West Indies and Bangladesh, as well as the second leg of the IPL, before appearing in all of Australia's T20 World Cup games.

The All-rounder,ontheotherhand,isconvincedthathewillbereadyforthered-ballseries. "With no games, it gave me the chance to focus on a few different things, so my body feels as good as it has in a couple of years," Cummins said.

"There's no niggles, I feel really fresh and I always love going into a series giving myself the best chance to turn up and, if I have to bowl 50 overs in a Test, I can."

Australia will play one three-day intra-squad match beginning December 1 ahead of the series opener.

Cummins will share the bowling responsibilities with fellow Australians Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, who both played in Australia's first T20 World Cup victory on November 14.

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"The benefit of the short spells is that we're really, really fresh. I always feel like it's better to be underdone than overdone coming into a big Test series," he said.

"We've got access to quite a few centre wickets. We'll have three, four, five centre wickets where we try and have relatively big days, bowl a couple of spells on those days, and then we'll be ready to go."

The first Test begins on December 8 at the Gabba in Brisbane, followed by the day-night Test on December 16 at Adelaide Oval.