After the Asia Cup the cricket fanatics would shift their mind to the upcoming Ashes series starting from late November. And the cricketers himself cannot wait for this decorated event to begin as the Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood gearing up well for this Test series.
Hazlewood is expected to play a Sheffield Shield match in the lead-up to the Ashes series as he wants to prepare well for the England batting lineup.
After missing the T20I series against the West Indies after the Tests, Hazlewood recently played five of the six white-ball matches against South Africa. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have also been absent in recent weeks. Although Hazlewood won’t be playing in September, he prefers to continue accumulating miles before the first Test in Perth rather than taking a long break.
“It felt like over the last 12 months, the best way for me to go about it is just keep on ticking over, keep playing, not having too long off bowling,” Hazlewood said at an event to promote Play Cricket week. “I find…getting back to that intensity and volume is quite tough for me. So if I can just keep staying up there, match intensity as long as I can, then that’s sort of the best way for me to go about it.”
Hazlewood, who participated in four Test matches during the 2023 Ashes, anticipates that the England batting lineup will present a formidable obstacle. In the current India series, they occasionally adopted a more nuanced strategy as opposed to launching a complete assault before losing by six runs at The Oval. After a magnificent hundred, Harry Brook’s stroke caused a 7 for 66 collapse that sparked much controversy.
“England has obviously been quite flat wickets recently, the last few years, and it’s been a really dry summer as well, so they are probably starting to get tired and spin now,” Hazlewood said. “I think [Brook] will adapt. He’s a good player. He’s at the top of the rankings for a reason, and he’ll be a tough challenge.
“When [Root] first came out, it was a little bit of a different attack. It was probably [Mitchell] Johnson and [Ryan] Harris and [Peter] Siddle. Gaz [Nathan Lyon] has been around a long time now, so he was probably there, but we sort of just jumped on the back of that
“I think a fresh face like Harry Brook might find it easier. There’s no baggage behind him and he can just come out and play with freedom as he does. Joe’s probably in the form of his life as well. So they’re an unbelievable batting line, to be honest. The top seven have done really well…so it’s a challenge.”
Asked whether it will be the strongest batting England have sent to Australia in recent times, Hazlewood said: “Yeah, definitely.”
Hazlewood played one match for New South Wales last season before the India Test series. Despite going wicketless in 24 overs against Queensland, he was Australia’s best bowler in the first Test match in Perth until an injury ended his campaign. Though the workload on bowler-friendly Caribbean surfaces was not particularly heavy, he managed to play all four Test matches this winter against South Africa and the West Indies.
“The Test [only] guys will play more than one [Shield game]. They’ll probably play two or three, but everyone’s on different programs,” he said. “I used it last year and I’ve sort of found that it’s very beneficial. Time on the field, multiple spells in a day, it’s sort of hard to replicate it at training. So, to get that before a Test series is pretty pivotal, I think.”
