Cummins warns England batsmen of short-pitch deliveries

Australia fast bowler Patrick Cummins has issued a warning to the England batsmen of facing a barrage of short-pitch deliveries in the upcoming Ashes series that begins next month.

Cummins, who made an extraordinary comeback in the series against India after a hiatus of six years is expected to be part of the bowling attack for the opening game in Brisbane along with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

The last time, England toured Australia was in 2013/14 series when they were exposed to a series of short pitch deliveries from Mitchell Johnson, who went on to claim 37 wickets from five Tests helping his team to a 5-0 series whitewash.

The series also saw Jonathan Trott leave the England squad mid-way due to stress-related issues while off-spinner Graeme Swann announced his retirement following the end of the third game in Perth.

"Hope you practice your bouncers because we’ll be bowling a lot of them," said Cummins.

"No one really likes it if you’ve got real pace and real accuracy,” added the right-armer, who, like Starc, is capable of regularly exceeding 150 kph.

"They play on slower wickets, not as much bounce, so over here ... it’s one of our biggest strengths.

"We grow up on these wickets and as bowlers getting bounce has always been really important.

"I think we’re lucky that there’s a few of us who are all pretty tall and get a bit of bounce and like to bowl with a bit of pace.

"Hopefully the wickets have a bit of pace and bounce in them, there’s nothing like getting your adrenalin up and then running in trying to bowl short."

The 24-year-old picked a seven-wicket haul on his debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011 following which his career was stalled by a series of injuries.

Cummins has played further four more Tests which came this year but the upcoming Ashes series will be his first game on home soil in the longer format and he is looking to draw inspiration from Johnson's performance in the 2013/14 series.

"To watch ‘Johno’ do what he did, (he) kept the whole morale of the side and Australia up against the Poms almost single-handedly," added Cummins.

"It shows the importance a really quick bowler can have and hopefully one of us three or four guys can do a similar job."

The five-match series will kick-off in Brisbane on 23rd November.

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