Hazlewood wary of England’s batting prowess ahead of Ashes as he is keen to keep himself in action ahead of facing England.
As he gets ready to face a “unbelievable” England batting lineup that he thinks will be the best they have ever brought to Australia in his career, Josh Hazlewood anticipates playing a Sheffield Shield match in the run-up to the Ashes in November.
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc have not played in recent weeks, and Hazlewood recently played five of the six white-ball matches against South Africa after missing the T20I series against the West Indies after the Tests. Although Hazlewood won’t be playing in September, he prefers to continue accumulating miles before the first Test in Perth rather than taking a long break.
“It felt like over the last 12 months, the best way for me to go about it is just keep on ticking over, keep playing, not having too long off bowling,” Hazlewood said at an event to promote Play Cricket week. “I find…getting back to that intensity and volume is quite tough for me. So if I can just keep staying up there, match intensity as long as I can, then that’s sort of the best way for me to go about it.”
Hazlewood, who participated in four Test matches during the 2023 Ashes, anticipates that the England batting lineup will present a formidable obstacle. In the current India series, they occasionally adopted a more nuanced strategy as opposed to launching an all-out assault before losing by six runs at The Oval. After a magnificent hundred, Harry Brook’s stroke caused a 7 for 66 collapse that sparked much controversy.
Currently placed second in the Test rankings, Brook will be playing his first Test tour of Australia. In 2022, he scored a maximum of 20 in nine Twenty20 Internationals played in Australia. The way he adapts to the situation will determine England’s chances. So, too, the performance of Root who has yet to score a Test century in Australia where he averages 35.68 from 14matches.
Hazlewood on England’s batting
“England has obviously been quite flat wickets recently, the last few years, and it’s been a really dry summer as well, so they are probably starting to get tired and spin now,” Hazlewood said. “I think [Brook] will adapt. He’s a good player. He’s at the top of the rankings for a reason, and he’ll be a tough challenge.
“When [Root] first came out, it was a little bit of a different attack. It was probably [Mitchell] Johnson and [Ryan] Harris and [Peter] Siddle. Gaz [Nathan Lyon] has been around a long time now, so he was probably there, but we sort of just jumped on the back of that
“I think a fresh face like Harry Brook might find it easier. There’s no baggage behind him and he can just come out and play with freedom as he does. Joe’s probably in the form of his life as well. So they’re an unbelievable batting line, to be honest. The top seven have done really well…so it’s a challenge.”