From the second day, Cummins played with his wrist heavily strapped, and while it did not appear to impede his bowling, he seemed to be in more discomfort while batting.

Following the conclusion of the Ashes, Cummins will now have at least three weeks off and perhaps longer if he is not included for the T20I leg of the South Africa tour which starts in late August. The squad for that is expected to be named next week.

“I landed on my wrist on day one in the field going for a run-out. It’s pretty sore,” he said. “We’ll get it assessed over the next few days and work out if anything needs to happen.”

“Mitchell Starc coming off with a sore shoulder in this game was an incredible effort,” Cummins said. “Managing that throughout this game was just a proper effort.”

Starc added: “This has been the closest, most exciting and no doubt, most-watched series I’ve been a part of. It’s been a really special couple of months and I’m sure everyone will reflect on that differently but will have a similar sentiment. The ebbs and flows of this series have been incredible to be a part of.”

Despite a poor performance at Old Trafford and a wayward start to England’s second innings at The Oval, Cummins did not believe they had run out of gas despite the home side having the better of the latter three Tests after Australia had gone 2-0 up.

“No doubt everyone gets more fatigued, [but] I don’t think that is a huge factor,” he said. “[We] didn’t get it done. There were key moments we didn’t get right.”

Cummins’ next captaincy challenge will be the ODI World Cup in India during October and November. He has so far led Australia in only one series in the 50-over format. Their home Test summer includes three matches against Pakistan and two against West Indies before a two-match series in New Zealand next March.