Australia captain Pat Cummins and veteran spinner Nathan Lyon are in doubt for the upcoming fourth Test against England in the ongoing Ashes 2025-26.

Cummins had missed the first two Tests due to his back injury and made his return to the format to play his first Test since July in Adelaide after a long layoff with lower back issues.

Following his team's "pretty amazing" Ashes triumph in Adelaide to keep the Ashes urn, Cummins acknowledged he is unlikely to play in the Boxing Day Test and might not play again in the series.

“We’ll wait and see. Now that the series has been won, there might be a sense of job’s done, and let’s kind of reassess the risk. So, we’ll work on it over the next couple of days. I doubt I’ll be playing Melbourne, and then we’ll have a chat about Sydney. But certainly, while the series was live, let’s take on the risk and have a crack at it,” Cummins was quoted as saying by AFP.

On the other hand, there is also doubt about Nathan Lyon playing in the MCG Test after suffering a hamstring injury. Lyon, 38, dove to save a ball at fine leg but got up gingerly and quickly motioned for the dressing room after holding his right hamstring. He came to a halt on the field of play with a fine leg and staggered to the changing rooms.

"It doesn't look great. I don't know yet, but seeing someone on crutches doesn't really bode well for a Test match a week away. Gaz is pretty close to irreplaceable. The ability to take breakthroughs but also control an innings is really important, so it's going to be hard to replace,” Cummins said about Lyon, as per ESPNCricinfo.

"We've got some guys who have already had a taste of international cricket around the traps. Other guys have done really well in domestic cricket. I think it's been one of the benefits, actually, of the Sri Lankan tour, even the West Indies and a couple of these tours where we take a couple of spinners; there are guys that can step in, and you feel like it's not going to be too overwhelming for them,” he added.

Australia has the option of bringing in Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann.

Steve Smith, who replaced Cummins as captain in the previous two Tests, was unable to attend Adelaide after suffering from vertigo symptoms just before the toss.

But he was seen back in the nets and is anticipated to be ready for Melbourne, which means Josh Inglis may be dropped, with Usman Khawaja shifting to number five if Travis Head keeps the opening spot.

Australia has been dominant all series, with its 82-run win in Adelaide coming on the back of eight-wicket defeats at Perth and Brisbane, securing the famous urn with two tests still to play.

“There was so much hype coming into the series, and you never really know how it will play out. So, winning in three tests is hugely satisfying for many reasons. Much of the pre-series chat centered on how evenly poised it was going to be, and to win in straight tests, it doesn’t get much better than that.

The goal was to win the Ashes. But you’re not going into a Test match not wanting to win, so we’ll go to Melbourne and absolutely be desperate to win that one and Sydney. And if we get 5-0, it’s amazing, but I don’t think that’s been discussed at all. It’s always just been about how we’re going to navigate our way through to three wins,” Cummins added.

(AFP/ESPNCricinfo inputs)