Veteran Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series as he continues to deal with a pair of injuries, national coach Andrew McDonald has confirmed.
Hazlewood missed the first two Tests due to a hamstring injury suffered in New South Wales’ final Sheffield Shield game ahead of the Ashes, before it was revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald during the Brisbane Test that he’d started to experience Achilles soreness.
McDonald also flagged on Tuesday that Cummins would return for the Adelaide Test, beginning next Wednesday, and take back the captaincy from Steve Smith.
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“No, I don’t think he’ll take part in the series now,” McDonald said of Hazlewood.
“You can go with that one. It’s a totally separate injury [to the hamstring issue]; it’s somewhere lower in the calf to Achilles region.
“He will be out of the series and his preparation will then shift towards the World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us.
Josh Hazlewood won’t play a single Test in the Ashes series. AP
“But unfortunately Josh won’t be a part of the Ashes, and [we’re] really flat for him.
“A couple of setbacks we didn’t see coming. We thought he’d play a huge part in the series.
“But [we] really feel for him that he won’t get that opportunity.”
Hazlewood, 34, has been riddled with soft-tissue injuries in recent years.
The right-arm quick was in scintillating touch in white-ball cricket during the lead-up to the Ashes, but because of his injury history there were always doubts over whether he’d remain fit for the Tests.
Cummins, meanwhile, has been building up his workloads after returning from the mid-year tour of the Caribbean with a back stress injury.
“Pat will be back in the squad, he will be available, and that creates a different balance to our attack,” McDonald said.
“Barring anything else happening in the next week, we’ll be expecting Pat to be tossing the coin and putting the blazer on.
“There won’t be any match opportunities for Pat. This is something we’ve done with Pat before, off longish lay-offs, where we’ve put in some time to rebuilding his body.”
Cummins was put through “match simulation” bowling spells at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field during the Gabba Test, McDonald said.
“We feel as though he’ll be as best prepared as he can be,” the coach added.
“He was well ahead of where we thought he would be at, and it created a real live conversation for Brisbane. The skill readiness, the loads, how he was pulling up — it was debated a lot leading into that Test match.
“So with that in mind, seeing him further advanced, we feel he’ll be really well-placed for the challenges of Adelaide.”
More to come.
