Injured quicks set for bowling returns

Australia's injured pace trio are hopeful they will meet a deadline later this month as they aim to prove their fitness for the Test tour of the UAE later this year.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are confident they will resume bowling by the end of the month, another important step in their respective returns to cricket following injuries earlier this year.

None of the trio have played since the ill-fated tour of South Africa in March; Cummins and Hazlewood due to back injuries and Starc because of a leg problem. 

"I've been getting a scan every month to track the progress," Cummins told AAP. "It's probably a little bit slower than we would have liked, but all still pretty much on track.

"As long as there are no hiccups in the building-up stage ... we should all be right for the UAE. We've all started running.

"I don't think I'd had more than a couple of days off bowling for about 18 months, so for my body to have a bit of a break has been nice.

"We know it's going to be pretty much flat out for our whole summer then the English summer as well."

The UAE tour for Tests against Pakistan will be Australia's first Test campaign since former captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were banned following the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Cummins says he can't wait to call Smith and Warner teammates again, saying it feels like the banned duo have already spent five years in cricketing isolation.

The pair still have almost nine months to serve of their year-long bans, with the sanctions dictating that they can't play for their country, state or a Big Bash League franchise.

"I've felt for them, the whole time," Cummins said. "It's been really hard seeing some of the things written about them by people who don't know them.

"The way they've handled themselves has been incredibly impressive in pretty unprecedented circumstances. I can't wait to have them back."

While the pair can’t play for NSW during their bans, they are free to train with the squad as Blues captain Peter Nevill has already said he wants his young squad to use Smith and Warner as sounding boards this summer.

Cummins, who had just finished a spell at Newlands when the ball-tampering saga started, suggested the banned duo "want to be around as much as they can".

"They want to be involved in cricket and do what's best for cricket," he said.

"What an incredible resource to have, some of the best batsmen in the world.

"Young guys, guys on the fringe of Australia selection, pretty much any cricketer in the world has stuff to learn from them."