Pat Cummins begins comeback bid

Pat Cummins, the Australia fast bowler, will join the Under-19 squad for the quadrangular series in Townsville beginning next week, as he bids to return to the senior national team after a long injury lay-off due to a bone stress injury in his foot.

"Pat is at an advanced stage of his rehabilitation and we feel he will benefit from bowling in a competitive environment," CA physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said. "He'll be on a restricted program and is being taken to Townsville so we can continue his progression and introduce some competition time.

"He won't play in every match or bowl his full allocation of overs, but will undertake a program that will allow us to carefully manage his involvement in the squad's training and matches."

Cummins, 18, made an outstanding start to his Test career in November 2011, when he took seven wickets and was Man of the Match on debut in Australia's victory over South Africa in Johannesburg. However, he hasn't played a match since then and was ruled out of Australia's entire home summer of internationals as well as the ongoing tour of the West Indies due to a heel injury.

The quadrangular series will be played by U-19 teams from Australia, England, India and New Zealand between April 5 and 15. It will be used as a warm-up up event ahead of the U-19 World Cup in Queensland in August.