Monday, 20 November 2017: After six long years, Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has finally come to grips with the prospect of playing a Test at home.

Sitting on the couch watching yet another home series on TV, an injury-plagued Pat Cummins admitted the thought of playing a Test on Australian soil felt more elusive than ever.

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But six long years after donning his baggy green for the first time, the 24-year-old reckons he has finally got his head around the concept ahead of the Ashes starting in Brisbane on Thursday.

Fireworks are expected when Cummins is unleashed for the first time on Australian soil in a Test attack alongside Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

However, not so long ago home Test series were a bit of a fizzer for Cummins.

The NSW quick burst onto the international scene as an 18-year-old in 2011 with a man-of-the-match display on Test debut in South Africa.

Injuries - largely stress fractures in his back - and seemingly endless rehabilitations ensured he didn't play another Test until March this year.

"With each year it seemed like I was further way in some ways," Cummins said of playing a home Test series.

"As a kid you always grow up watching cricket in Australia.

"But all my tours were overseas so when I came back to Australia I was watching cricket (on TV) so I didn't really associate that it was a team I was a part of.

"This is probably the first time since 2011 that I actually feel close and feel like I am chance of playing so I am pumped."

Cummins only played back-to-back Tests for the first time in September's tour of Bangladesh.

But the Blues fast bowler got the most confidence out of something that seemed as unlikely as a home Test not so long ago - being picked as Australia's sole Test quick.

In a sign of how far he had come, Cummins was the lone fast bowler selected for the second Test against Bangladesh in the draining Chittagong heat - the first time Australia had done it since 1978.

"I got a lot of confidence out of that," said Cummins, who has strung together five Tests since 2011.

"I think even six months earlier to think I could be in that position, it seemed pretty far-fetched to me.

"I was lucky to be the third bowler in a first-class game and get through that.

"So coming out the other side of that I was really happy that the selectors and (captain Steve Smith) Smithy were comfortable with me being the only bowler."