Pat Cummins drops massive news about Aussie team before first cricket Test against India

Pat Cummins has revealed Mitch Marsh will be right to bowl in the first Test against India starting on Friday in Perth, despite the all-rounder not sending down any overs in a competitive match for two months. Marsh's availability with the ball has been a big talking point heading into the five-Test series, with Cameron Green's long-term injury making Marsh the fifth bowling option.

Marsh hasn't bowled in a match since an ODI against England on September 27, and was sent home early from the IPL in May after picking up a hamstring injury. The 33-year-old has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but will need to take on a heavier bowling workload with Green absent.

Marnus Labuschagne has been working on his seam bowling and looms as a genuine option, but Cummins dismissed any doubts around Marsh's fitness on Thursday. That's despite Marsh being used as a batter only in his two most recent Sheffield Shield appearances.

"He'll definitely bowl this Test - well, he's definitely available to bowl," Cummins said. "He's an all-rounder. With the way us four bowlers (Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon) are set out, we never really budget an all-rounder bowling heaps.

"So I would imagine (Marsh bowls) a few spells each innings or something like that. But he's ready to go. He's been bowling really well this week. His body's great, the best it's been for a while. He's ready to go and happy to bowl as much as we need."

Labuschagne has bowled 33.2 overs for Queensland in Sheffield Shield this season, and took 2-5 from 6.2 overs against WA at the WACA. "He's always trying to impress with the ball, which is great," Cummins said.

"He loves bowling. He's bowled some handy overs for Queensland. Obviously, he's got leg spin, bowled a bit of off spin in the past, and then this year it's been onto pace bowling. So yeah, I'm sure he'll get the ball at some stage. And he's been bowling quite a few bouncers as well. So that's maybe something we'll turn to at some point."

Pat Cummins' message to debutant Nathan McSweeney

Meanwhile, Cummins has urged debutant Nathan McSweeney not to try and emulate David Warner when he opens the batting alongside Usman Khawaja in Perth. McSweeney had never opened the batting at any level of cricket until a game for Australia A earlier this month, but was picked ahead of specialist openers Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft.

“Davey is very hard to replace in many ways, but I think the most important thing for someone like Nath coming in is to play his own game,” Cummins said. “He doesn’t need to strike at 80 like Davey did if that’s not his game. I’d love to see them bring the best out of each other.”

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Australia confident in 'scary' middle order to perform

McSweeney's inclusion means Steve Smith reverts back to No.4 behind Labuschagne, after a largely unsuccessful move up to opener when Warner retired. Regardless of what happens at the top, Cummins said it would be a "scary" proposition for India to face Smith, Travis Head, Marsh and Carey in the middle order.

"If they come in and the (opposition) bowlers already have plenty of overs into them, that's a pretty scary proposition," Cummins said. "And similarly, we've seen some counter punches where we've been two, three or four down for not many and Marsh has pulled out 100 or Head has pulled out 100 and changed the dynamics pretty quickly. So I really like how that middle order has been structured the last couple of years."

The first Test between Australia and India gets underway at 1.20pm AEDT. India have held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2016/17, and have won the last four series between the two sides. But the tourists are under siege after a historic 3-0 series loss at home to New Zealand last month.

with agencies