Shades of McGrath: How Hazlewood’s warm-up changed the day and the series

Brisbane: If less dramatic than the ball Glenn McGrath trod on at Edgbaston in 2005, team warm-ups before day four at the Gabba will not be remembered fondly by Australia.

A day that began with Australia still a genuine chance to force a Gabba victory over India via the follow-on had its major twist before the first official ball was bowled.

Australia paceman Glenn McGrath lies on the ground after being injured in the pre-match warm-up.Credit: Getty Images

Josh Hazlewood felt something go in his right calf during warm-ups, and the sensation did not diminish after some work by physio Nick Jones. Hazlewood missed the start of play – the distracting news may have contributed to Steve Smith dropping a chance offered to him at slip by KL Rahul on the first ball of the day – and from the moment he could only bowl one proppy over in the morning session, the whole complexion of the match and series changed.

Without Hazlewood for the game, captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon made a valiant effort to knock India over in time to enforce the follow-on. Assistant coach Dan Vettori confirmed after play that the Australians would have enforced it, even though it would have heaped a huge load onto the remaining fit bowlers.

The Australians made slower than hoped progress through the Indian line-up in between rain breaks. But they were still able to get to the last pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep with 31 runs to spare before the follow-on was avoided.

Cummins, in particular, bowled with tremendous hostility and precision. Smith made amends for his earlier drop by taking a ripper to hand Lyon his third wicket of the series. And Starc also maintained his high standards.

A despondent Josh Hazlewood wears a compression bandage on his calf.Credit: Nine

But without Hazlewood, it was all a little bit harder. Cummins tried a couple of overs from Mitchell Marsh, but they were no substitute for the contributions of a bowler who had six wickets at just 13.16 apiece for the series before today.

In the end, the Australian effort only truly flagged in the face of Bumrah and Deep, who is better than a regular No.11, and posed his own questions for Starc and Cummins with an older, softer ball.

When Deep jabbed Cummins over the slips cordon and to the boundary, the hosts shared looks of frustration and some resignation, for their best chance of beating India here had gone. That means the series is likely to reach Melbourne still tied 1-1, a fortuitous set of circumstances for India.

That much was written all over the faces of Virat Kohli and coach Gautam Gambhir, two of the higher-profile figures visible in the Indian team viewing area when the follow-on was saved. They are a couple of sessions’ batting away from escaping Brisbane without losing, thanks partly to tropical rainfall.

There is also still the faint prospect that the tourists will be reinforced with the considerable seam bowling skills of Mohammed Shami for the back end of the series. With Hazlewood missing, that would be an even bigger shift in the balance of the contest than has taken place already.

That’s not to say that India are free of concerns now. Captain Rohit Sharma did little before driving hesitantly and edging Cummins behind, while only Rahul has shown consistent steel to keep the Australians out. Cheteshwar Pujara, opining from home, has not held back in his criticism that the Indian top order looks to be short of the application required.

Ravindra Jadeja added some greater heft to the middle order after the fashion of Nitish Kumar Reddy, but he is less of a bowling threat than Ravichandran Ashwin in these conditions. And Australia’s first reserve bowler is Scott Boland, who was excellent in Adelaide and would love nothing more than to play another Test at his beloved MCG.

But for Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc, day four’s events will also bring a sense of wider sorrow. All are getting older, and opportunities to win series together are getting far more scarce. Hazlewood will now be unable to help his longtime pace bowling compatriots try to win a home series over India for the first time since 2014-15.

At 33, his story is starting to resemble that of his sometime mentor Craig McDermott, who found it harder and harder to avoid niggling soft tissue injuries until his international career came to a sudden halt in 1996.

As McDermott’s former Test teammate Ian Healy put it on SEN early in the day: “He will be questioning his career. He’s getting some older-age, repetitious injuries that are keeping him out. That durability is now being questioned by himself, even.”

Vettori described Hazlewood as “despondent” after play. For Australia, the challenge will be to avoid letting that sense of loss envelop their campaign to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Even without Hazlewood and in the event of Brisbane rain, they are still trending upwards in this series. It may just take a few hours to remember that.

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