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Wrist injury no worry for Cummins' Cup hopes

Pat Cummins has confirmed his wrist injury will keep him sidelined during Australia's ODI series in South Africa but he is no doubt for the World Cup tournament

Pat Cummins looks set to miss Australia's ODIs against South Africa due to his fractured wrist and instead return for the series against India ahead of the World Cup in October.

The World Cup could be Cummins' last time captaining the ODI side, with the quick to determine after the tournament whether he can continue juggling the role with bowling duties and the Test captaincy.

Cummins injured his left wrist diving in the field on day one of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval but played on before beginning his ongoing recovery.

"It hurt day one when I did it and it hurt a lot when I was batting, but I didn't think it was too bad," said Cummins, who was speaking at the announcement of Cricket Australia's five-year partnership with global technology company HCLTech.

"Then with each day it got a little bit sorer so I knew it was probably bone as opposed to a muscle (issue)."

Pat Cummins, in a wrist brace, with Alyssa Healy and Josh Hazlewood at an event to celebrate CA's partnership with HCL Tech // Gettty

The injury had already ruled Cummins out of the first leg of Australia's white-ball tour to South Africa, a three-match T20 international series that begins on August 31.

Cummins was named as captain for Australia's extended 18-man ODI World Cup squad that will be trimmed to 15 before the tournament proper, with national selector George Bailey indicating at the time that the ODI captaincy was likely to be shared around for the five-match series against the Proteas that starts on September 7 with Cummins battling his wrist injury.

Cummins was flagged as a more likely starter in India, where Australia will play three matches from September 22 ahead of the World Cup, with official warm-up matches yet to be announced.

"I'll head over to South Africa at the back-end of that leg," Cummins said.

"But we're probably looking more at those one-dayers ahead of the World Cup.

"It shouldn't be too bad. Another few weeks and it'll be right."

Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Alex Carey will all tour South Africa and have previously skippered the 50-over side, while newly-appointed T20 captain Mitch Marsh is another potential captain.

Any replacement captain could be auditioning for the role long-term, with the busy Cummins a chance to offload the position to focus on his bowling workload and red-ball leadership duties.

HCLTech has been a digital partner with CA since 2019 // Getty

"I haven't thought about it too much to be honest. We'll play this World Cup and then assess it after that," Cummins said.

"The good thing is we've got a few options (for South Africa).

"(Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he's doing the T20s as well."

Marsh's appointment to the T20I captaincy comes after a steady rise back into favour at national level.

That rise continued with a famous century in the third Ashes Test at Headingley, his first red-ball appearance for Australia in almost four years. 

Although Marsh's appointment is, for now, only for the South Africa tour, Cummins endorsed him as Aaron Finch's successor at the helm of the T20I side.

"He's always been a huge member of the team, a real leader," Cummins said.

"As a captain, that's what you want, a guy that's going out there, taking the game on, someone we can all get behind.

"Off the field, he's just a great people-person. His energy's infectious, he's great to hang around with, always good fun."

2023 Qantas ODIs v South Africa

September 7: First ODI, Bloemfontein (D/N), 9pm AEST

September 9: Second ODI, Bloemfontein (D/N), 9pm AEST

September 12: Third ODI, Potchefstroom (D/N), 9pm AEST

September 15: Fourth ODI, Centurion (D/N), 9pm AEST

September 17: Fifth ODI, Johannesburg, 6pm AEST

Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

South Africa ODI squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Brjor Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen

2023 Qantas Tour of India

September 22: First ODI, Mohali (D/N), 6pm AEST

September 24: Second ODI, Indore (D/N), 6pm AEST

September 27: Third ODI, Rajkot (D/N), 6pm AEST

Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures

October 8: v India, Chennai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 12: v South Africa, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT

November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT

November 15: First semi-final, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 16: Second semi-final, Kolkata (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 19: Final, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT