Serious questions are being asked about the Ashes preparation of Australia’s ageing bowling attack after key man Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the First Test with a hamstring injury.
The 34-year-old has a long history of injuries and has spent the past six weeks playing ODI and T20 matches against New Zealand and India, only to be injured during last week’s Sheffield Shield match at the SCG—his lone red-ball appearance since the mid-year tour of the West Indies.
“Josh Hazlewood going down before the first Ashes Test is exactly the scenario I’ve been flagging for a while,” commented former Test paceman Mitchell Johnson in The West Australian.
“When your leaders are all in their mid-to-late 30s and have heavy workloads banked, the odds eventually turn on you.”
MORE: Ashes injury shock—Hazlewood OUT of First Test against England
Beyond Hazlewood’s recent workload for Australia, critics have also questioned whether the type of short-spell bowling the paceman has been doing provides the right foundation for a gruelling five-match Test series.
It’s a question Hazlewood admitted he was asking himself during the recent T20I series against India.
“The intensity is obviously right up there … but I can’t really say if it’s worked perfectly until probably after the summer,” he said.
“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.”
Alas, it seems we already know the answer—and the Ashes series hasn’t even begun.