Josh Hazlewood set to miss remainder of New Zealand series with hamstring injury
Josh Hazlewood admits he faces an almighty task to reappear in a Test this summer, with James Pattinson and Michael Neser now looming in a selection showdown for Boxing Day.
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Josh Hazlewood admits he faces an almighty task to reappear in a Test this summer, with James Pattinson and Michael Neser now looming in a selection showdown for Boxing Day.
The fast bowler has been diagnosed with a low grade left hamstring injury, and while he is definitely out of the next Test at the MCG, he is all but no chance of being risked for Sydney either.
Victorian tearaway Pattinson would be the obvious next cab off the rank after the role he played during the Ashes campaign, but hard-working Queenslander Neser is well and truly in the running for a stunning Boxing Day debut.
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Playing attack dogs Mitchell Starc and Pattinson in the same bowling line-up hasn’t necessarily always worked, and Neser’s crafty swing bowling presents a tempting option for selectors.
Cricket Australia have stopped short of ruling Hazlewood out for the summer, but he is realistic about his chances of beating the clock to get up for a third and final Test at the SCG in three weeks’ time, particularly when it’s the first hamstring injury of his career.
“It’s a little bit sore this morning. Obviously, I knew as soon as I did it, that there was a tear there. It’s not too bad so we’ll play it by ear the next couple of weeks,” said Hazlewood on Fox Cricket.
“Bowlers know their bodies pretty well these days, so we know when something is not quite right. The best thing to do is, obviously, come off and get it checked out. The ball was coming out really nicely and I had a couple of hours under lights up my sleeve but unlucky.
“I will take the next couple of weeks as they come. It’s a tight series so it will be tough work to get up for the last Test. But we’ll see how we go.”
Australia’s quicks went to battle a bowler down in searing 40 degree heat on Saturday, and only time will tell whether the arduous mission will in turn command more selection changes than just a straight replacement for Hazlewood in Melbourne.
There is the prospect of Australian selectors considering adding a pace bowling all-rounder to the mix to further ease the load of a taxed bowling attack on an MCG pitch – that despite recent dramas – could well be brutally flat for the Test.
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After taking a wicket in his first over under lights on day two, Hazlewood says he had no inkling that his body might break down on him the very next over.
“I must be getting a bit older these days. It’s always something new as a quick, so I will have to do a bit of rehab and get back on the park as quick as I can,” Hazlewood said of the injury shock, after a history of solid hamstrings.
Hazlewood missed two Tests of last summer with a back injury which ultimately resulted in him being overlooked for the World Cup — perhaps explaining his devastated reaction in Perth.