After missing Australia’s Ashes series victory over England due to injuries, Josh Hazlewood, a 36-year-old fast bowler, expects to be prepared for the Twenty20 World Cup next month.
Due to a hamstring strain, the right-arm quick missed Australia’s 4-1 Ashes triumph. Although he later experienced Achilles soreness throughout his recuperation, he was optimistic that he would be prepared for Australia’s tournament opening match against Ireland on February 11 in Colombo.
“Everything’s going to plan. We took a few extra weeks once we couldn’t make the test matches. I had a couple of bowls off the half-run last week. Running’s going well, all the strength stuff’s going well so, yeah, on track,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Hazlewood as saying.
Australia, who are concerned about the composition of their pace attack, would greatly benefit from Hazlewood’s availability from the outset.
Pat Cummins has been included in Australia’s World Cup squad, but the team is thinking of postponing his comeback due to a lumbar stress issue that forced them to rest the fast following his lone Ashes game in Adelaide.
Xavier Bartlett is expected to secure the second pace bowling spot in the World Cup group stage following the retirement of Ashes star Mitchell Starc from T20 internationals.
Hazlewood will play in the Indian Premier League following the World Cup. Australia will play up to 21 Tests over the course of an 11-month period later this year.
Hazlewood claimed that planning his Test workload was premature.
“(With) white ball, you can really sit down and nut it out because you know you’re involved for four or 10 overs pretty much. With the red ball, it is a bit more on the run. You can map out the way you want to train to get ready for that first one, but I think once the Tests start then it’s sort of play it by ear and have those conversations on the go,” he said.
