Josh Hazlewood is only five wickets away from joining an exclusive fast-bowling club but a fortnight out from the series opener against Bangladesh, the veteran quick’s thoughts are on greater glories with Australia’s Test side.
Hazlewood, who missed the home Ashes triumph last summer with a hamstring injury and subsequently suffered an Achilles issue, has been in and out of Brisbane across the past few weeks, honing his preparation at the National Cricket Centre ahead of the first Test in Darwin.
Should he be selected, it will end a 13-month stretch in which the 35-year-old has played zero Test cricket – the longest such period since he debuted in 2014.
And throughout that time Hazlewood has been stranded five short of 300 Test wickets – something of a magical milestone for Australian fast bowlers since Dennis Lillee reached the mark in November 1981.
Since then, five other Baggy Green quicks have achieved the feat – Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, and Pat Cummins – and while Hazlewood’s addition would be both celebrated and deserved, the laidback speedster instead has one eye on the up-to-21-Test stretch – and a shot at immortality – that awaits he and his teammates.
“This group’s been together for quite a long time now – the majority of it, anyway – and the big series are obviously England and India,” Hazlewood said. “I haven’t won in South Africa either, so there’s three that are coming up … a few boxes to tick off there (for) not just me, (but) this whole playing group.”
As will invariably become an increasingly relevant storyline in the coming months, Australia’s much-vaunted ‘Big Four’ attack of Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc and Nathan Lyon have yet to win a Test series together in any of the aforementioned countries (Lyon played in a series win in South Africa, 2014).
“That’s been a driving factor during this prep, in the back of your head, and even (in) the months leading into it,” Hazlewood said. “(They’re) some real big Test series, and they’re all away, so (it’s) tough competition and hopefully we get the job done.”
With Hazlewood absent through last summer’s Ashes, understudy Scott Boland leapt once again spectacularly onto centre stage, claiming 20 wickets across the five Tests and delivering a couple of crucial spells in the three ‘live’ matches.
And while Boland has only been selected once ahead of a fit Hazlewood (for the World Test Championship final in 2023, when the latter was not quite at peak fitness following an Achilles problem), national selection chair George Bailey last week seemed to suggest the selection battle between the pair was as close as it has ever been.
“Scotty would never say it,” Bailey said, “but I think he’s mounting a strong case that when you use the words ‘the big three’, that he could be one of those.”
The numbers support the theory. Since Boland’s debut in December 2021, he has played 19 of Australia’s 46 Tests, taking 82 wickets at 18.58 – figures that just shade Hazlewood’s (80 wickets at 20.40 in 20 matches) through the same window.
There is of course the prospect of Australia playing a four-man pace attack against Bangladesh, though the only two Tests missed by Nathan Lyon in recent times have been day-night affairs with the swinging pink ball.
And while Hazlewood is of course keen to play in Darwin, he suggested Australia would realistically require an ensemble cast of high-quality quicks if they are to have success over an unprecedented run of 20-21 Tests in 12 months.
“I think (he and Boland have) only played one game together – at Edgbaston (in 2023) – and I’d love to play more with Scotty,” he said. “We’re obviously a little bit similar, but I think there’s still a lot of differences in in our bowling.
“We’ve got ‘Nes’ (Michael Neser) and ‘Doggy’ (Brendan Doggett) there as well and I think we’ll have to lean on all six at some point in the next 18 months … (look at) what happened last year (in the Ashes) – Patty played one Test, I played none, and ‘Nes’ and ‘Doggy’ jumped in when they were needed, and we won the series.”
And while the macro picture of Test series successes abroad has entered the minds of the Australians, Hazlewood has been knuckling down in a micro sense in Brisbane as he tries to move past a frustrating run of injuries that have curbed his Test involvement in the past few years.
Part of that has been trying to replicate Test match bowling days, where he and his fellow quicks have been bowling long morning and afternoon sessions to prepare their bodies for the unique rigours of a five-day contest.
“This is probably the first time we’ve actually had a lead-in to a Test without any cricket in terms of games,” he said. “So we’ve been able to dice them up exactly how we want. It’s been big days (on) Tuesdays and Thursdays mostly, with some other stuff filtered in around that. And then last week we had a few back-to-back days – Tuesday, Wednesday – and again next week I think (will be) back-to-back.
“Leading into other Test series and Test matches, you’re playing T20, you’re playing one-dayers, you’re travelling, so it’s tough to fit those bowling sessions in. This has been tailor-made for a Test match, which should work out well.
“I’ve looked at it literally (as) day-in, day-out for the last few weeks here – ticking boxes, getting workloads in. Next week’s another tick, and then once you get through all that, then you look at Darwin.”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium, Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad (for first Test): Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan
