Pat Cummins declared three months ago he was never one to need a preparation to get himself right for a Test match.

On Thursday he proved it, running through England's top order to help put Australia on course for victory in Adelaide and another retention of the Ashes.

With victory enough to wrap up the series in Adelaide, Cummins claimed 3-54 for Australia as the English slumped to 8-213 in reply to the hosts' 371.

Cummins' lumbar bone stress in his lower back has been the most talked-about injury in Australia for the past three months.

First the injury was considered a minor one. Then the captain was in doubt for the first Test. At one stage, the whole summer looked gone.

As is often the case, the reality was somewhere in the middle. Cummins probably could have played in Brisbane a fortnight ago, but was clearly right for Adelaide.

At the height of the speculation, Cummins made one thing clear. He wouldn't need long once he started bowling again, and there wouldn't have to be a warm-up game.

And after returning to the lightest of bowling seven weeks ago, Cummins barely missed a beat on his return to Test cricket on Thursday.

In fact, he looked as good as ever in the Adelaide heat, as the mercury tipped past 40 degrees.

Australia's captain had Zak Crawley caught behind with a ball that angled in and nipped away.

Joe Root went in similar fashion outside off-stump. Cummins has now taken Root's wicket 12 times in Tests, four more than any other batter.

And Cummins proved too smart for Jamie Smith, who always looked likely to fall for a short-ball trap before he edged a pull shot to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

"I had no doubts," Nathan Lyon said.

"When I saw Pat working his backside off at Cricket Central, a good distance from his home (I knew).

"The amount of effort that he's been putting in on the rehab, recovery, then the overs, the training, the gym.

"I'm extremely proud of the way he's gone about it. And that's why he's a pretty inspirational leader, to be honest."

And it all happened in conditions Lyon rated as some of the most oppressive he has played in.

"Pat has trained extremely hard to get to the position that he's at now," Lyon said.

"Every bowler is different as well. I know for me, I like bowling a lot of overs before a Test series.

"But Pat's that world-class that he could have an extensive break off, train his backside off, but then come and be extremely effective and be a world-class bowler.

"That's what he is."