Ashes Selection Drama: Why Nathan Lyon Was Dropped and Pat Cummins Almost Played

Cummins missed the Ashes opener in Perth after he failed to recover from his back injury. The Australian captain was sidelined from the hosts' squad for the day-night Test in Brisbane against England.

The 32-year-old Cummins bowled this week as a part of his return from his lumbar stress injury. The right-arm pacer was seen bowling at the Gabba in nets on Thursday evening.

"He's going to bowl a certain amount of overs this week. So it's like, 'Well, if you're going to bowl them here (in the nets), can it be there (in the Test)?'" Bailey said during play on day one of the Brisbane Test, as quoted by cricket.com.au.

"The key factors were, what does that look like for post this (Test), and are you accentuating that risk going forward? Then what are the uncontrollables in a game, and does that put other players under pressure? It was going to be a hard number of overs. Once we got up here, saw his training, got as much of the background medical information as well, it became a live possibility," he said.

"Then it was just working through the permutations of what that would look like in terms of the amount of overs, what it would look like going forward as well? It became a live conversation, hence probably leaving some of the other decisions until late," Bailey added.

Australia dropped experienced off-spinner Nathan Lyon during the pink-ball Test against England in Brisbane. The hosts opted for Michael Neser and Josh Inglis. However, Bailey said that Lyon could return for the third Test in Adelaide.

Bailey suggested that the pace of recent Test matches Australia have played has limited Lyon's ability to make an impact on seam-friendly pitches.

"I don't think he agreed with it, and that's fine. I think Beau Webster's in the same boat. That was heavily debated around Inglis and Webster, Neser and Webster. Nathan will disagree with the decision, and that's perfectly okay. I think he disagreed with the decision in Jamaica, and that was perfectly okay. There's no qualms about players feeling like they can impact the game, and the fact of the matter is he could have, " said Bailey.

Bailey revealed that Usman Khawaja, who missed the second Test due to back spasms, is yet to recover fully.

"I think it's just highlighted with 'Gaz' because there have been years where he has managed his ability to bowl long spells, go at two an over, and hold things down, and it just hasn't quite panned out that way (more recently). But when it suits and the time's right, that will still be the case, I imagine. Khawaja also hit the nets during the tea break on Thursday as he attempts to mount a recall case in his return from the back spasms that dogged him in Perth, and which he has not yet fully recovered from," Bailey added.

"He hadn't got his back back to baseline, and if you're not back to the starting point, then it's obviously a heightened risk. He very much felt, I guess it's a guilt ... when you're injured, and you feel like you let the team down, and I think that was something he was conscious of - if it happened again, it'd be an awful feeling. "So sitting this one out buys time to get it right and build it out from there," said Bailey.

- ANI