Hazlewood back in training ahead of the second test at the nets in Sydney on Tuesday as focus turns to the second Ashes Test.
Josh Hazlewood, who missed the initial Ashes Test in Perth due to a hamstring injury, returned to the nets on Tuesday, which is positive for Australia.
In the meantime, Pat Cummins was seen bowling with a pink ball as he continues to work towards making a comeback for the day-night Test at the Gabba after suffering a back injury.
While New South Wales was playing Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield, the two practiced at Cricket Central in Sydney.
Hazlewood was bowling with a red ball, which appeared to be blatant evidence of his top priority. Adelaide, which has switched to a day Test this year, will be his recovery objective as he is not anticipated to be eligible for the Gabba Test.
Australia’s coach, Andrew McDonald, expressed confidence on Monday that Hazlewood will be ready later in the Ashes.
“I know that he’ll be available at some point during the series,” he said. “We’ve got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series.”
Prior to the first Test, Cummins looked strong in the nets in Perth and has been improving his bowling in recent weeks. Even though there are early signs that matches in this series could not go far, the selectors must have complete faith that he can handle the workloads necessary for a test.
“It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation,” McDonald said. “The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There’s a lot of positives, but now it’s just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we’re not putting him in harm’s way in terms of accelerating it too much.”