Watch England vs Australia in the second Ashes Test, live on Sky Sports from 10am on Wednesday
Monday 12 August 2019 09:00, UK
Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins says James Anderson will be a "massive loss" to England ahead of the second Ashes Test.
England slumped to a 251-run defeat after collapsing to 146 all out on day five of the first Test and will now be looking to level the series at Lord's from Wednesday, live on Sky Sports The Ashes.
England will be without Anderson, with Jofra Archer set to replace the Ashes veteran in the England XI and make his Test debut - a month after bowling the Super Over in the World Cup final win over New Zealand.
Cummins feels Anderson's absence could be key and says Australia are well prepared to face his replacement Archer.
"We haven't really spoken about it too much to be honest," he said.
"It's unfortunate for them that he went down early in the first game, it's no secret that he is a massive loss.
"He's been their highest wicket-taker and is arguably the best bowler in the last few Ashes series.
"As soon as he went down I felt like there was a real opportunity in the second innings to try and get some overs to their bowlers and bat well - luckily we did.
"Some of the boys have played against Jofra at the World Cup or with him in the IPL or Big Bash League, so he is not an unknown. We'll do our homework but we've all faced him."
England have also dropped Moeen Ali and replaced him in their squad with fellow spinner Jack Leach, who scored 92 as nightwatchman in the Test win over Ireland at Lord's last month.
"It might seem like a big call but Leach had a good game only a couple of weeks ago," said Cummins. "Whoever is the 11 that comes at us doesn't really bother us too much."
"We'll just keep doing our thing. The good thing is we have a full squad to pick from. The unfortunate guys who had missed out on the bench have done well in the warm-up games."
Cummins, the top-ranked Test bowler in the world, picked up seven wickets at Edgbaston, including the final one of the match when he had Chris Woakes caught by Steve Smith at slip.
"I'll be hoping to play every game and if I'm fully fit and bowling well I expect to - but it's good we've got plenty of bowlers here," Cummins added.
"I came in pretty fresh for [the first] Test and knew that we were going to get 10 days off, so it was pretty easy to tear in that last day. I haven't really done much in the last few days, just built up nicely. I feel 100 percent."
Watch day one of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia, at Lord's, live on Sky Sports The Ashes and Main Event from 10am on Wednesday. Click here to upgrade now.
