On the eve of his comeback to Test cricket, the Australian captain has detailed his aggressive recovery plan that was essentially Ashes or bust.
Cummins will lead Australia against England in the third Test in Adelaide starting Wednesday - his first Test since mid-July in the West Indies.
After scans revealed a stress injury in his back, he didn't bowl for 16 weeks.
Then, he embarked on an all-or-nothing Ashes plan.
"We had a pathway that you need to do when you come back from a stress injury like that," Cummins told reporters on Tuesday.
"So I had 16 weeks completely off bowling, made sure the bone heals really well, it's looking good.
"And then from there it's ramping up. And normally you try and ramp up .... maybe over three or four months.
"But obviously it was the Ashes. So we set on a pretty aggressive plan to get up in six or seven weeks."
Cummins admitted surprise at his smooth recovery to bowling, saying it went "better than I would have thought".
"I got asked a million times in the off-season: 'Are you going to play?'
"I genuinely didn't know because as long as everything tracked well, I would be in this position.
"But we also knew you have got to tread lightly around some of these injuries and if there was a flare-up or setback, I wouldn't have played or risked it ... luckily things have played out pretty well."
Cummins enters the Ashes with Australia holding a 2-0 lead despite himself, injured quick Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon bowling two overs between them - all from Lyon in the first Test.
"It's incredible," he said.
"It shows just great depth in the Aussie cricket system at the moment with fast bowlers.
"It has almost worked out perfectly: we're halfway through a series and I come back online and we have got Nes (Michael Neser) and Doggy (Brendan Doggett) who are resting from this week but have obviously got themselves into the series and they will look to the last two games.
"We have seen Jhye Richardson out the back bowling (at training).
"It feels like everything has come together and we're not just hanging on until the end of the series, which sometimes you are.
"We're actually peaking and hopefully have heaps of resources available."
15°C