Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the first Test against India

Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the opening part of the Test series after failing to recuperate from an Achilles injury on his left leg sustained while bowling in the Sydney Test last month.

Josh Hazlewood in a file image (Image credit: Twitter)
By Kshitij Ojha | Feb 5, 2023 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the opening part of the Test series after failing to recuperate from an Achilles injury on his left leg sustained while bowling in the Sydney Test last month. Apart from supporting his teammates with their training, Hazlewood has not participated in Australia’s pre-series camp in Alur. The seasoned fast bowler is set to make his debut in Nagpur on Tuesday. While he is certain to miss the first Test, allowing Boland to play his first overseas Test, his availability for the second Test in Delhi is also in doubt due to the short turnaround between matches. Australia is already without Starc for the time being.

“Not sure about the first Test. It’s still a few days away but it’s sneaking up pretty quickly. The second one is obviously straight after as well. So, we’ll play it by ear over the next week and next few days and hopefully, Tuesday goes well,” Hazlewood said before Australia’s final session at the KSCA Stadium in the outskirts of Bangalore on Sunday. Just a bit of workload management at the moment. Just managing the Achilles. I was bowling a fair bit leading into the tour at home and sort of just pushing up against it. Probably wasn’t recovering as well as I would have liked between each session so thought we’d give it a few days here straight off the bat and try and get over the hump and have a bowl from Tuesday on (in Nagpur) and hope it goes well,” he added.

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Hazelwood has not played many Tests in the last two years

Hazlewood has only played four Tests in the last two years, and never more than one in a series, due to a string of injuries. He played the first Test of the recent home summer against the West Indies in Perth before suffering a side strain and missing the next three matches. He then returned for the Test against South Africa in Sydney. And it is believed that the 32-year-old paceman damaged his Achilles during that rain-soaked match.

Hazlewood has stated that he wants to focus solely on Test cricket for the next 12 months, which begins with this high-profile visit to India. The Ashes are just around the corner, as is a possible appearance in the World Test Championships final in June. And, despite his ongoing battles with injuries as he enters the ninth year of his Test career, he insists that his focus has not wavered.

“It’s still the same mindset. It’s still about taking every game as it comes. It’s obviously a huge tour and a long tour as well. It’s four Tests. It’s not a two-Test series where you might push things to get up for it. Four Tests is a long time and the Ashes is there as well and there’s cricket all the time. It’s just about getting it right, you don’t want it lingering around for months on end. The Achilles is a hard one, being a tendon it’s a couple of steps forward, one step back occasionally, which is how it goes for everyone when they’ve got this type of injury. Feels like it’s heading in the right direction,” he said.

Australia will undoubtedly miss Starc’s skills in Nagpur, where reverse swing has historically played a significant role. But they had a very capable replacement in Hazlewood, especially after the extremely efficient manner he’d gotten the ball to reverse on the same subcontinental pitch at the SCG earlier in the year. Despite Boland’s lack of expertise on Asian pitches, Hazlewood is sure that his fast bowling teammate is “qualified” to step in and make a mark.





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