Australia's Pat Cummins trains with pink ball with eye on second Ashes Test

Cummins has been sidelined with a back injury and missed the first Ashes Test against England in Perth, which the home team won inside two days.

The Australia skipper trained with his team before the game at the Optus Stadium and has now continued his build-up as he pushes for a comeback.

Speaking on Monday, Australia coach Andrew McDonald said: "It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation.

"The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There's a lot of positives, but now it's just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we're not putting him in harm's way in terms of accelerating it too much."

More encouraging news for Australia is that Cummins' fellow seamer Josh Hazlewood was also back bowling in the nets after a hamstring injury, but he will not be ready for the second Test.

Hazlewood is targeting a return to action from the third Test that will be played in Adelaide or the Boxing Day encounter.

"I know that he'll be available at some point during the series," McDonald added.

"We've got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series."

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