Hazlewood’s ‘uncharted territory’ places Australia on alert
The dangers of asking Josh Hazlewood to push by three consecutive Tests is prone to be the choice that may most occupy the minds of Australia’s selectors forward of Headingley, the place the Ashes could be secured.
Todd Murphy‘s inclusion to interchange the injured Nathan Lyon is all-but rubberstamped, however when Hazlewood appeared at Lord’s it grew to become the primary time he had performed consecutive Tests since 2020-21 following a collection of accidents.
He was held again from the World Test Championship closing towards India to make sure he was prepared for the Ashes and has since bowled 56 overs in two Tests, claiming eight wickets, though his economic system is 4.64. It shouldn’t be a large workload, however one that will give the selectors some pause with the third Test starting simply three days after Lord’s.
“He’d be the obvious one you’d be a bit more careful of,” captain Pat Cummins mentioned. “The tour so far for him has gone as well as he could have hoped – no injuries, but he is kind of uncharted territory for the last year or two.
“I believe there can be some dialog round that. I believe he bowled 25 and 35 [25 and 31], which is not excessive numbers, however once more you weigh up this sport versus the final two, how he is monitoring so we’ll work by that.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” he added. “It’s obviously a huge match, but there are three matches to come. So you don’t want to put anyone in high risk than you’d like knowing that there’s a couple of fresh guys on the bench that come straight in.”
While the main prize of retaining the Ashes with a collection victory could be achieved at Headingley, the 2 remaining Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval would nonetheless carry necessary WTC factors with this collection being the primary within the new cycle the place Australia are defending champions.
Should Hazlewood be benched for this sport, Scott Boland can be the possible alternative forward of Michael Neser, who has been retained within the squad. Boland performed the opening Test at Edgbaston, the place England took him at practically a run-a-ball, however Cummins would haven’t any qualms over his return.
“We have such high standards of him [Boland] because of how well he has bowled,” Cummins mentioned. “You saw in that little stretch where conditions were in our favour, how damaging he could be.”
During the Lord’s Test, David Warner spoke in regards to the difficulties he was going through with broken fingers, however Cummins was not conscious of them being a priority and Warner netted on Tuesday.
“I saw him icing them at one stage in the changeroom and then him talking about it was the only time I’d heard of it,” he mentioned. “So I don’t think it’s an issue.”
Victory at Headingley, that means a primary away Ashes collection win since 2001, would cement the legacy of this Australian Test workforce following their WTC title. Cummins was a central determine within the drawn 2-2 collection in 2019, which meant the urn was retained, however conceded there have been combined emotions.
“I think everyone felt a bit differently about it,” he mentioned. “In Manchester, when we won that Test match to retain it, there was a big celebration where some people, me included, kind of thought, ‘do you celebrate when you retain it’. I genuinely didn’t know. For me it’s always about winning a series outright so that’s the goal. We want to win one of these last three Test matches.”