Pat Cummins is making encouraging progress in his quest to return for the second Ashes Test, saying he had surprised himself with how well his body is feeling.

The Australian skipper is in Perth but sitting out the opening Test against England as he recovers from a back stress injury.

Cummins said the target of playing at the Gabba for the December 4 start remained on his radar.

“I’m probably on track, if not probably better than I would have thought a month or so ago,” Cummins told Seven.

“A lot can go wrong when you go from nothing to trying to build up. Fortunately so far, everything has felt great. I’ve been pulling up well and probably surprised myself if anything.

“I will do a bit more work this week, bowling and having a couple days off. All going well so far.”

Cummins said he

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