Josh Hazlewood, the Australian fast bowler, is eager to participate in a series of one-day matches to enhance his bowling performance as he prepares for the upcoming Test series in South Africa scheduled for October. Following a successful return to Test cricket against Bangladesh, Hazlewood expressed his desire to play as much as possible in the lead-up to this important series.
“I’m very pleased with where I’m at physically. (I’ve) done a lot of work, probably the 10 weeks leading into that series; it was probably our last big training block before what’s to come.
I think once you’re at that intensity, which we’re all at now, (it) is trying to maintain that as best we can,” Hazlewood told reporters at the launch of Play Cricket Week in Sydney, as quoted by Cricinfo. After an extended period of preparation before the Bangladesh series, Hazlewood said he was particularly satisfied with how his body had responded to the workload. Hazlewood acknowledged that the full extent of Rabada’s injury remains unclear but said Australia would not underestimate the South African fast bowler’s ability to recover quickly.
The experienced quick has identified playing potentially two matches in each three-game series as an ideal way to prepare for the challenges ahead. “I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can (within) reason. We’ve got two ODI series before that Test match series, so it might be playing two out of three in both of those. Very pleased to come out the other side pretty much unscathed,” he added. Australia’s white-ball plans across Zimbabwe and South Africa are expected to vary, with Pat Cummins, who remains the official ODI captain, likely to feature only in the South Africa leg. Selection decisions could also be influenced by Australia’s concurrent Australia A red-ball tour of India, with some players potentially prioritised for that programme as preparations begin for the five-match Border-Gavaskar series in January and February. The Test squad for South Africa is expected to be named early next week, with attention also focused on the fitness of South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, who is facing a race against time to recover from a hamstring injury after being ruled out of the ODI series.
Hazlewood is expected to feature in Australia’s ODI squads for the upcoming tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa, with the squads set to be announced on Tuesday.
