Ashes dilemma: Hazlewood, Starc or Boland

Josh Hazlewood is healthy, Scott Boland is brilliant, Mitch Starc is special, who will selectors opt for?

Josh Hazlewood is fit and ready to play the first Test of the Ashes, leaving selectors with one of the great headaches as Australia embarks on its bid to defeat England at home for the first time in more than two decades.

Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Scott Boland? Two into three will not go. It is, to borrow a line from captain Pat Cummins, like trying to pick a favourite child.

In this case, however, it is picking your least favourite child.

Coach Andrew McDonald was a little unhappy to be asked about selection in the hours after the victory at The Oval, saying, “Can’t we just enjoy this one for a little while?”

Sorry “Ron”, all eyes have turned to Edgbaston and ­beyond. The Ashes anticipation is exquisite. Its gravitational pull irresistible.

The England-Australia ­rivalry is so big it has been given centre stage in this year’s World Cup in India.

A draft fixture seen by The Australian has the rivals scheduled to meet at Ahmedabad’s 130,000-seat stadium after Australia opens it campaign against New Zealand in Chennai. The biggest news from that fixture, which will be announced this week, is that geopolitical enemies India and Pakistan will play in the Ahmedabad stadium named for Hindu nationalist PM Narendra Modi.

Cummins is a lock for the Ashes because he is the captain and one of the finest bowlers in world cricket.

He plays barring calamity.

After that there are three bowlers vying for two places and it would take the wisdom of Solomon to make a call on who plays and who misses out.

Boland has only played eight Tests, but is arguably the best bowler in world cricket having taken 33 wickets at 14.57.

He is fresh from taking five key wickets, including the scalps Virat Kohli and Ravi Jadeja in the over that broke India’s spirit on the last day of the final.

It was he who took the pressure to another level, cutting the Kohli threat off at its knees when India’s master batsman had moved to 49 and given his side some hope.

“We’re starting to become too used to Scotty Boland just doing that,” Cummins said. “He just keeps finding another level, doesn’t he. He’s unbelievable. He is just our best bowler all game.

“Held it together. Didn’t go for many runs. Always looked threatening.”

He is almost undroppable, which boils the choice down to one between Starc, who looked underdone, and Hazlewood, who has almost become an afterthought where once it was unthinkable to leave him out.

In 59 impeccable Test ­matches he has taken 222 wickets at 25.83. In two tours of Eng­land (2015 and ’19) he has 36 wickets at an average in the low 20s.

The big concern for the ­Bendemeer-born bowler is that a series of injuries has seen him bowl just four Tests in the past two years. Hazlewood has been working hard in the background and word was had the WTC Final been a one-off match and not the forerunner to a five-match Ashes series, he would have played.

And then there’s Starc.

A once erratic bowler he has come into his own, taking 55 wickets at an ­average of almost 28 in the 17 Tests of the 2021-23 WTC period.

In three tours of England he has taken 33 wickets at an average of a little over 30.

He was marked as too ­expensive in 2019 for the style of attack favoured by selectors and then-coach Justin Langer in that series and only called on for the match at Manchester.

Starc struggled for rhythm at The Oval against India and was bothered by footmarks. There was little swing and what there was came with the older ball. He took the critical wicket of Kohli in the first innings with a rearing delivery but went for more than five runs an over. If “Bazball” is real and the batters take to him …

McDonald insists selectors are not concerned.

“We’re a team that usually goes at that high two runs per over, here we’ve got to get our heads around the fact that we could go at four runs an over. India showed good intent at certain times and the game went at high threes, four runs per over,” McDonald said.

“Mitch went at a bit more than that and he generally goes at a fraction more than the other bowlers, and they complement each other really, really well.

“His wicket-taking ability is second to none. We’ve got to weigh all that up when we make decisions.”

Who will play? If the wicket is dry and likely to ­reverse Starc will have an advantage, if not, then it is a toss of the coin.