Jason Cummings named in Australia World Cup squad despite playing twice for Scotland

JASON CUMMINGS has been named in Australia’s World Cup squad... despite twice being capped by Scotland.

The Edinburgh-born striker represented the Tartan Army in friendly matches against the Netherlands and Hungary during the 2017-18 season.

Holding dual-nationality thanks to his Australian mother, Cummings opted to switch allegiances after falling out of the Scotland fold.

The forward was eligible to do so having only played in non-competitive internationals for Scotland – and having already held Aussie citizenship at the time of his Tartan Army debut.

He received his first Socceroos call-up in September, scoring from the bench in a friendly victory over New Zealand.

Cummings, 27, will now head to Qatar after sufficiently impressing boss Graham Arnold during his cameo.

The forward began his senior career at Hibernian, before joining Nottingham Forest in 2017.

He swiftly fell out of favour at the City Ground, however, returning north of the border to join Rangers on loan.

Further temporary spells at Peterborough and Luton followed, before a permanent switch to League One Shrewsbury.

A year back in Scotland with Dundee would then follow, Cummings bagging 14 goals in 36 games for the Den’s Park side.

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In January of this year he left Dundee for a new adventure Down Under, penning an 18-month contract with A-League side Central Coast Mariners.

He’s been a hit with the Aussie outfit, scoring 12 goals and assisting a further eight since making the move.

Cummings is joined in the Australia World Cup squad by plenty of other UK-based players.

Sunderland’s Bailey Wright and Middlesbrough’s Riley McGree are in there – as well as Cummings’ Central Coast Mariners team-mate Garang Kuol, who has agreed to join Newcastle in January.

Cummings isn’t the only Scottish-born star in Arnold’s squad – with Harry Souttar and Martin Boyle also making the cut.

Hearts trio Nathaniel Atkinson, Kye Rowles and Cameron Devlin have been selected – as well as Celtic’s Aaron Mooy and St Mirren’s Keanu Baccus.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Mathew Ryan will skipper the side.