Captain Pat Cummins ruled out of Ashes opener, Smith to lead Australia

Australia captain Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the first Ashes Test due to a back injury, with Steve Smith set to lead the side in his absence.

The Australia captain has been sidelined with a back stress injury since July and had earlier this month said he was "less than likely" to feature in the first Test against England in Perth starting November 21.

"We've run out of time," head coach Andrew McDonald told reporters here.

"We sort of flagged this a week or so ago that it would take sort of four plus weeks to get him up and running and we've run out of time, unfortunately, but really optimistic and hopeful for the second Test match.

"We've grappled with it for a little while. The nature of the injury is that you never know and you're sort of taking it a day by day," he added.

McDonald said the talismanic pacer will resume bowling this week and is hopeful the captain will be fit in time for the second Test in Brisbane, starting December 4.

"He'll be back bowling this week, and that's a huge step. That was the big variable that we wanted to add in. We're on the journey to that that second Test match, and very hopeful that that will be a positive outcome.

"We'll see how he pulls up and then we'll make decisions moving forward," McDonald said.

"I know that sounds really boring and everyone wants a time frame and what's the risk associated with it. There's better people than I to speculate on what that is."

He will travel to Perth with the Test squad next month.

"Patty will be around the group as well, he'll come to Perth ... and it'll almost be one of those things where you'll see him and it'll almost be a question of, 'Why isn't he playing in Perth?' That's where we think he'll be placed by that that stage," said the coach.

Smith, who has captained Australia six times in Cummins' absence since 2021, will lead the side.

"We flip into Steve Smith being the captain and we're incredibly fortunate to have such an experienced captain," McDonald said.

"He's filled in for Patty six times since Patty's taken over, so they're a good working sort of couple, so to speak. I don't want that to be a grab or anything, but they work well together and there'll be a nice hand over and Patty will be around the group as well.

Scott Boland is likely to join Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in Australia's pace attack in Perth.

"Losing your captain is not ideal, but when you talk about Scott Boland being the potential replacement, it's not a bad position to be in."