AGENCY
NEW DELHI, JUNE 8
Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling as well as at any time in his career as he sets his sights on returning to Australia’s line-up for the World Test Championship final against South Africa.
Hazlewood has not featured in the Test side since picking up a calf injury against India in Brisbane, which followed a side strain earlier in the series, and is hoping to fill one of the few gaps on his CV at Lord’s having missed out on the 2023 WTC final against India when he was recovering from injury.
Hazlewood was a late arrival in the UK (along with Josh Inglis) having completed an outstanding IPL campaign for champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) where he claimed 22 wickets. On Saturday he sent down around five overs at moderate intensity during Australia’s optional training session in Beckenham as he eased back into bowling after the journey from India and was set for a more thorough workout on Sunday at Lord’s where he will operate at close to full pace.
Barring any setbacks Hazlewood is expected to keep Scott Boland out of the XI for the final. In his last 13 Tests, Hazlewood has taken 57 wickets at 19.68 since returning to the side during the 2023 Ashes following a period where injuries had limited him to four outings in two years.
“I was obviously quite close last time [in 2023],” Hazlewood said. “I just had more of an interrupted IPL leading into that, and then had a few little issues going on, so wasn’t quite up to scratch, but I feel in much better place this time around.
“And I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so have got a lot to fall back on in terms of skill wise.
I still feel like I’m bowling probably the best over my career and it’s just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months.”
Although Hazlewood was able to play 10 consecutive Tests from mid-2023 to late 2024, considerable time has gone in behind the scenes trying to find whether there is a common theme to his various injuries in recent years with a particular focus on the strains of back-to-back days of bowling in condensed Test series.
“I think the intensity is probably a big one for me to tick that box,” he said. “We’re definitely adapting training to sort of get those back-to-back days in, get a big day, followed by another bowling session the day after and things like that, just to try and try and get our head around it and put ourselves in the best possible position we can be.”
Hazlewood was confident that he would have enough preparation time leading into the final, saying that the later-than-expected finish to the IPL had not impacted how many full bowling sessions he would be able to have with the red ball.
“I ticked over some good overs just before the final in Ahmedabad, in different weather than this,” he said on a cool, overcast day where beanies were never far away.
“It was quite a tough session. And then every time you play a game in the IPL, you’re probably going to get almost seven or eight overs in if you really want to…in and around with warm-ups. I had a number of times where I bowled back-to-back days, again at high intensity, with the game being one of those.”
One key adjustment Hazlewood will be looking to make in England is ensuring he targets a fuller length that is often needed and brings the stumps into play more.
“In the IPL games, I was probably hitting around that seven-to nine-meters in the powerplay, and not really threatening the stumps as much as you want to in Test cricket, in particular here in England,” he said. “So, it’ll just be about pushing that length and touch fuller and still getting that zip through the keeper.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hazlewood is a huge advocate for the role of the allrounder in Australia’s line-up which since 2020-21 has been spread across Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh and recently Beau Webster. Green won’t be available to bowl until the Ashes later this and head coach Andrew McDonald previously left the door ajar for not needing Webster’s overs in the final, but Hazlewood was of no doubt the benefit the additional resource brings.
“I think it’s huge,” he said. “I remember back to when we didn’t have one…and it was brutal. It was tough work. I feel like you’re just continually bowling, like you’re almost following the next guy at the other end and then you’re switching ends and then Gazza [Nathan Lyon] is from one end and we all rotate.
“So to have that bowler, [and] even to be honest, Travis [Head] and Marnus [Labuschagne], it only has to be a couple overs here and there just to give you that extra break to then be fresher, whether it be the second new ball or the next day or later on in the series. It just sort of snowballs if you don’t have that allrounder and you’re just continually bowling.”
