Josh Hazlewood’s stunning return to Test action gives Aussie selectors the kind of headache they’re happy to suffer

The match has only seen one day of action, but Josh Hazlewood’s 3-58 in a stunning display of accurate fast bowling is set to have an impact on more than just the outcome of the Lord’s Test.

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The man feeling the most heat from Josh Hazlewood’s stunning return to the Test team isn’t England captain Joe Root or even battling opener Jason Roy.

It’s Hazlewood’s Australian teammate Peter Siddle.

Hazlewood was exceptional in his first Test following a stress fracture suffered in the summer, which also led to him being kept in cotton wool for the World Cup, taking 3-58 in a stunning display of accurate fast bowling.

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Captain Tim Paine and coach Justin Langer have been singing from the same hymn sheet this series, declaring that - while rotation is a dirty word – they’ll be going into each game with the attack they believe will be the best fit to take 20 wickets.

Josh Hazlewood quickly justified his selection for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.

They’re now met with a conundrum.

Because on the performance he displayed on Thursday, it’s hard to imagine Hazlewood not finding his way into Australia’s best XI – and that’s where this could affect Siddle.

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Langer all but confirmed recalled quick James Pattinson would play at Headingley next week, after being rested from the Lord’s action having pulled up sore from Edgbaston.

Peter Siddle deserved more than his single wicket but no finds himself under pressure.

Vice-captain Pat Cummins remains the world’s top-ranked Test bowler and has already excelled across the three innings England have played this tour – taking a stunning 4-32 in the second innings at Birmingham, and following it with a fearsome bouncer-filled display at Lord’s.

So barring a backflip, it would appear to boil down to a difficult choice: Siddle or Hazlewood.

Siddle bowled without luck in the second Test – twice having Rory Burns dropped to regulation catches, before getting the well deserved scalp of Jos Buttler.

Pat Cummins is the world’s top ranked bowler and the first name on the Aussie team sheet.

He has an exceptional record at Headingley, a ground suited to his skiddy line and length style, where he took match figures of 6-71 – including 5-21 in the first innings – in the 2009 Ashes.

But steaming in from the Nursery End at Lord’s, Hazlewood has perhaps never looked quite so much like the man to whom he is so frequently compared to – Glenn McGrath.

Hazlewood has previously been the world’s top-rated quick and was bowling like it was a title he was eager to reclaim.

Hazlewood is now fully fit after a stress fracture earlier in the year that cost him a World Cup spot.

To leave him out would now seem an impossibility – and certainly he has the support of teammate Nathan Lyon.

“I don’t think he’s got the rewards he’s deserved as yet in his career, I think they’re to come,” Lyon said after taking a three-wicket haul of his own.

“In my eyes Josh is up there in the top three bowlers in Test cricket - that’s my personal opinion.

“His control - hitting that nagging length - but having the skill to go both ways, in and out, but then he’s got a pretty strong bouncer as well. And it’s usually on the money.

“Josh has been outstanding. I know he was disappointed to be left out of the first Test, but to come back and bowl the way he did today - hats off to Josh. I thought he was the pick of our bowlers.”