Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood makes return in IPL after four month lay-off

Josh Hazlewood has hardly played a Test in the past 12 months, so his IPL return ahead of the Ashes was a positive one.

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has taken the biggest steps on his path to a Test return after snaring two wickets in his first outing for nearly four months.

Hazlewood bowled three overs for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, snaring 2-15, in his first match since the Sydney Test against South Africa in January.

The 32-year-old looms as a key plank in Australia’s attack for a massive six Test matches in England that begins with the World Test Championship final against India, then the five-match Ashes.

Hazlewood hadn’t bowled in a match since injuring his achilles in Sydney that forced him to miss the series in India.

Hazlewood has been working on a recuperation program designed to get him ready for the WTC final on June 7 and said he was “more excited than nervous” about finally getting back.

“It has been a long while,” Hazlewood said.

“I was excited more than nervous. It is great to be back here in front of some good fans.”

An impressive night for RCB bowling unit 💥 #JoshHazlewood#MohammedSiraj#KarnSharma#Cricket#LSGvsRCB#IPL2023#wolf777news Content by Wisden India pic.twitter.com/zAlURlxVUT

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Hazlewood, who took 20 wickets at 21.85 in four Tests during the last Ashes tour in 2019, has only played 11 of 28 Tests since that series due to a string of injuries.

But he was picked in the 17-man Ashes squad with the expectation of rejoining Australia’s frontline attack with captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

National selectors were happy with Hazlewood to use the IPL to build up his bowling loads outside of games in the hope he could play as many of the six Tests in England as possible.

But Scott Boland is also in the squad and selection chief George Bailey said they would also have the capacity to call up Michael Neser and Sean Abbott, who are among a plethora of Australians playing in the County Championship, should the need arise.

“If we do need to call upon another quick we can we can be really specific around who we need and why,” Bailey said when the squad was picked.

“And then not necessarily have someone in the squad who ends up being superfluous.”