New Delhi, Dec 19, 2024
Former skipper Aaron Finch has suggested that Josh Hazlewood’s recent calf injury, which ended his time in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, gives Australia a chance to cherry pick the Test matches he plays in future.
After missing the day-night Test at the Adelaide due to a side strain, Hazlewood returned to play the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane. But he picked up a calf strain ahead of day four’s play, where he bowled just one over, before going for scans which confirmed his series-ending injury.
“With Hazlewood he’s getting injured more and more regularly so that would be a real concern. Think there’s an opportunity to maybe even cherry pick the games that he plays in the future.”
“Everyone knows he’s in that best three bowlers in Australia, or best four adding Nathan Lyon, but you need him on the park… (So, Australia might have to consider) picking the best conditions for Josh Hazlewood to have an impact and rotate the rest around that,” said Finch on ESPN’s Around The Wicket show.
With Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in their 30s, former batter Callum Ferguson believes Australia must have a rethink of their policies for the fast bowlers in order to prolong Test cricket careers of the trio.
“It’s really important these next couple of years for the Australian cricket team with regards the fast-bowling cartel because they’re not spring chickens anymore. And even the guys coming in behind aren’t the youngest either when you think of Scott Boland, Michael Neser, who is out with a hamstring injury at the moment as well, so we need to start thinking what’s the best way to maximise the impact of these guys and how do we elongate their careers.”
“We don’t want them to play less cricket, we want them to play more and I think a rotation policy might be the best way forward here because those five or six quicks are really, really good, and are up to it so let’s try and elongate their careers and rotating might be the best way forward,” he concluded.(Agency)
