Veteran speedster Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling well in his career as he sets his sights on returning to Australia’s line-up for the World Test Championship final against South Africa as well. However, Hazlewood has not played in the Test side since picking up a calf injury against India in Brisbane, and then a side strain earlier in the series. Notably, Hazlewood was a late arrival in the UK (along with Josh Inglis), having completed a stunning IPL campaign for champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he claimed 22 wickets as well.
“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.”
“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.”
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However, Hazlewood was confident that he would have a lot of preparation time leading into the final, claiming that the later-than-expected finish to the IPL had not affected how many full bowling sessions he would be able to have with the red ball as well.
“I ticked over some good overs just before the final in Ahmedabad, in different weather than this,” he said. “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.”
“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. So, it’ll just be about pushing that length and touch fuller and still getting that zip through the keeper. 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,” Josh Hazlewood concluded.
