Josh Hazlewood hopes his white-ball heavy preparation for the Ashes can be a template for future seasons after quietly emerging as Australia’s most in-form pace bowler heading into the five-Test campaign against England.
The relief on young gun white-ball basher Abishek Sharma’s face was palpable when it was revealed to him after India’s four-wicket defeat at the MCG that Hazlewood had played his final game of the BKT Tyres T20 series on Friday.
“Oh, is he?” Abishek said with a wide smile after being informed Hazlewood was off to play in the Sheffield Shield instead of the final three matches of the T20 series.
The paceman’s devastating four-over burst had effectively decided the second T20I, bowling four straight overs for just the second in the format and finishing with 3-13.
It capped a supreme run for Hazlewood in Australia’s limited-overs sides, in the shortest format in particular having snared 12 wickets at 16.50 and conceding only 7.33 per over from eight consecutive T20s against South Africa, New Zealand and India.
The 34-year-old has played 13 of Australia’s 14 white-ball games since the start of August. His Test pace partners, on the other hand, have had more subdued lead-ins to the Ashes.
Mitchell Starc played the three home ODIs against India but took advantage of his T20I retirement to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play in the World Cup semi-final in Mumbai this week. Scott Boland has worked through some rust in two Sheffield Shield outings, while the injured Pat Cummins has only returned to bowling off a few steps in the nets this week.
Hazlewood will join Starc in returning to the Shield for one final Ashes tune-up when New South Wales host Boland’s Victoria at the SCG on November 10.
“The intensity is obviously right up there, now it’s probably just getting a bit of volume in the legs with the Shield game next week,” Hazlewood said of his Ashes preparation.
“Everything feels in a good place. Doing a lot of things off the field well, doing things on the field well, so I couldn’t be happier with how it’s going.
“Everything’s going swimmingly now. I can’t really say if it’s worked perfectly until probably after the summer. If I get through everything, it’s probably the template moving forward to put myself in the best position to play as many games as possible.”
Hazlewood flagged he would have a “de-load” period over the ensuing days before ramping his bowling loads back up before his Shield return.
The right-armer, five victims away from 300 Test wickets, is eager to avoid a repeat of his injury-marred 2024-25 summer which began when he hurt his side during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener against India.
That Perth Stadium surface flattened out during the visitors’ second innings as India enjoyed a drop-in track that has been one of the more batter-friendly in the country over recent seasons.
With some uncertainty over whether Australia will pick both their Test allrounders in Cameron Green and Beau Webster in the first Test against England, as well as how much Green will be able to bowl, Hazlewood remains convinced of one thing.
“First player picked – allrounder,” he said.
“Going back to those 20-odd Test matches we played with no allrounder, they were hard yards. So if (one) can be in the team and be bowling – Green is obviously an outstanding player, Beau has done great for us whenever he’s played.
“The more the merrier, I say – they can bowl as much as they want.”
Hazlewood also brushed off suggestions an attack of Boland (36 years old), Starc (35) and himself is one staving father time.
“I think experience is good,” he said with a smile. “You learn as you go.
“(Jimmy) Anderson and (Stuart) Broad played for a long time. Not saying I’m going to be around that long. But the body feels as good as it ever does, probably has done the last five or six years whenever I’m up and going.
“Gym programs and things are more tailor-made to the individual now and more specific for longevity. It’s always improving, it’s not going to get worse. So all the little things add up, and hopefully we keep ticking those off through the summer and stay on the park.”
Australia v India T20Is 2025
October 29: No result
October 31: Australia won by four wickets
November 2: Third T20I v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 7:15pm AEDT
November 6: Fourth T20I v India, Gold Coast Stadium, Gold Coast, 7:15pm AEDT
November 8: Fifth T20I v India, The Gabba, Brisbane, 7:15pm AEDT
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott (games 1-3), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman (games 3-5), Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis (games 4-5), Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (games 1-2), Ben McDermott (standby player) Glenn Maxwell (games 3-5), Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (wk), Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Tanveer Sangha
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar
