All eyes were on Josh Hazlewood at the Gabba. Then he was whisked away in a black van

Brisbane: Josh Hazlewood has boosted his chances of returning to the Australian team for the third Test in Brisbane after completing an impressive off-site training session during which he bowled off his full run-up.

With media gathered at the Gabba to watch him bowl, Hazlewood was whisked away from Australia’s main training session to Allan Border Field on the other side of Brisbane to prove his fitness away from television cameras.

Having missed the second Test with a side strain, the veteran paceman was required to get through a full bowling session two days out from the third Test to demonstrate he was fit for selection.

After a brief fielding session, Hazlewood then spent some time batting and was expected to come into the Gabba nets for a bowl.

But as Pat Cummins, Mitch Marsh and Beau Webster bowled to Australia’s top-order batsmen at the outdoor practice nets, Hazlewood was nowhere to be seen – until eagle-eyed reporters spotted the 33-year-old walking towards the car park near the ground.

Hazlewood was joined by teammate Mitchell Starc and Australia’s bowling coach Daniel Vettori before the group drove off in a black van with the main afternoon session not even half finished.

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc leave the Gabba in a car during Australia’s main training session. Credit: Nine News

Starc jokingly pulled a white wide-brim hat over his face as the group left the Gabba, to the confusion of reporters and a few fans who came to watch the session.

It soon emerged that Hazlewood and Starc had been taken to have a bowl instead at Allan Border Field, seven kilometres away.

The clandestine nature of the off-site session fuelled speculation that Hazlewood would be racing the clock to return against India.

Cricket Australia did not give reporters notice that Hazlewood would be bowling away from the rest of the team. A spokesperson later said that was only due to a late availability at Allan Border Field.

Josh Hazlewood bowls away from the rest of his teammates at Allan Border Field on Thursday in Brisbane. Credit: Tom Decent

CA said Hazlewood and Starc went to a different location because they wanted to bowl off their full run-ups.

Reporters and the team’s media manager raced across Brisbane as Hazlewood and Starc took new balls and began bowling at the squad’s spare batsman, Josh Inglis, for the majority of the separate session. Television cameras arrived shortly afterwards to get shots of the pair steaming in.

George Bailey, Australia’s head selector, and Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of national teams, were on deck to watch the session, which lasted about 45 minutes.

Hazlewood is favoured to replace Scott Boland in the XI given his outstanding form this year.

Josh Hazlewood. Credit: Getty Images

Indian strike weapon Jasprit Bumrah also bowled at full pace on Thursday to allay injury concerns.

Bumrah went down with cramps during the Adelaide Test, with former Indian coach Ravi Shastri among those speculating that the pace spearhead might be nursing a groin injury.

India’s training session on Thursday loomed as a crucial test for Bumrah to prove his fitness and he passed with flying colours, finding the edge of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s bat early in his spell.

Bumrah bowled with pace and venom, while Rohit Sharma’s decision to face the new ball at training might indicate that India are thinking of promoting their captain back up the order.

Jasprit Bumrah bowls at training on Thursday. Credit: Getty Images

Mitchell Marsh is the only batsman in Australia’s top seven who has not been dismissed by Bumrah in this series.

“We know right now he’s probably the best bowler in the world,” Marsh said. “This is about getting yourself up for that challenge. It’s international cricket. It’s a big series and I think you want to take the best in the world on.”

Meanwhile, Marsh was able to laugh about his caught behind dismissal in Adelaide, which replays showed he didn’t hit despite walking off the field.

“The reality is I thought I hit it and I didn’t,” Marsh said. “I didn’t speak to Heady [at the other end]. I had a ’mare. There’s your headline on Instagram.

“I got in the change rooms and Gazza [Nathan Lyon] asked if I hit it and I said I smashed it. The replay went up and the head went into the hands. One minute later everyone was laughing at me. My bad.”

Khawaja puts hand up for Ashes

Daniel Brettig

Usman Khawaja, who hosted a full room of guests for the Usman Khawaja Foundation Test lunch before training, gave the strongest indication yet that, runs permitting, he intends to carry on to next summer’s home Ashes series, during which he will turn 39.

“If everything is going well there is no reason why I would not want to play another summer in Australia,” he said. “My body is good, my mind is good and I am still hitting the ball well.”

Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney walk off after wrapping up victory in the second Test.Credit: Getty Images

While Khawaja’s scoring has trailed off in recent times after he enjoyed dominant years in 2022 and 2023, he put those contributions into a team and conditions-based context.

“We’ve won seven of the last nine games that we have played,” he said. “What I know is that we are doing better than what the opposition are doing. In the last nine games, not one game has gone five days.

“It has obviously been tough work for batters in general but that [results] is all I focus on. The batsmen are still doing what they need to. I batted [through] the first session pretty much every single first innings last year which pretty much set up the game for the team.”

At the same time, Khawaja admitted he and the rest of the batting order needed to put more pressure back on India’s spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

“He’s got a lot of skills, he’s very accurate,” Khawaja said. “It’s very hard to get a combination of everything. When you’ve got a bowler who takes a lot of wickets, they usually leak runs. Then you get bowlers who are very economical and don’t leak runs, but it takes them a bit longer to get wickets. Bumrah does everything.

“Everyone’s human, and there are going to be times where if we put him under enough pressure, hopefully we can get a few runs off him. But we probably haven’t done enough of that yet.”