Australia news – Josh Hazlewood looks to maintain intensity after successful Test return

Josh Hazlewood does not want to stop bowling for long having made a successful return to action against Bangladesh and has his eye on upcoming ODIs to fine-tune preparations for the Test series in South Africa during October.

Hazlewood is set to be included in Australia’s squads for the ODIs in both Zimbabwe and South Africa which will be named on Tuesday and has earmarked potentially playing “two out of three” in both series.

He took seven wickets in the first Test against Bangladesh in Darwin, his first match in the format for more than a year, and again bowled impressively in Mackay although only claimed one wicket in the quickfire two-day contest.

“I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can [within] reason,” Hazlewood told reporters at the launch of Play Cricket Week in Sydney. “We’ve got two ODI series before that Test match series, so it might be playing two out of three in both of those. I think once you’re at that intensity, which we’re all at now, [it] is trying to maintain that as best we can

“I’m very pleased with where I’m at physically, [I’ve] done a lot of work, probably the 10 weeks leading into that series, it was probably our last big training block before what’s to come. Very pleased to come out the other side pretty much unscathed.”

Australia’s white-ball squads will differ between the Zimbabwe and South Africa legs of the tour with Pat Cummins, who remains the official ODI captain, only expected to be part of the latter. The selectors may also get creative around the concurrent red-ball component of the Australia A tour to India with a chance a few players could be prioritised for that ahead the ODIs with an eye on the five-match Border-Gavaskar series in January and February.

Australia’s Test squad for the South Africa tour will be named early next week with most interest focused on whether Marnus Labuschagne retains his place after struggling against Bangladesh. Whether he keeps his spot in the ODI group may offer some clues.

Whoever does form Australia’s top order for the Test series will no doubt be eagerly watching the fitness bulletins around Kagiso Rabada after it emerged he faces a race to feature in the Test series due to a hamstring injury having been ruled out of the ODIs.

“We don’t know exactly how bad the hamstring is,” Hazlewood said. “He seems to recover from any sort of niggle pretty quickly. He’s an unbelievable athlete. So I guess we don’t think about it too much this far out. Things will become clearer as we get closer. But I’m sure the batters will rather face someone else than KG.”

Meanwhile, Michael Neser is confident of being fit for selection in the Test squad as he makes good progress from the calf injury he sustained while training ahead of the Bangladesh series.

“[I’m] actually ahead of schedule,” Neser said after signing a new two-year BBL deal with Brisbane Heat. “I had another scan and results came back very good, so I’m progressing quite nicely.

“South Africa is still on the cards and still what I’m aiming for. Obviously, it hasn’t been picked yet, but if all goes well with rehab and everything, I’ll be fit and ready for that.”

While Neser is unlikely to be a first-choice starter in South Africa, even if Australia opt for an all-pace attack at any of the venues, he would provide valuable back up to the big three and Scott Boland. He took 15 wickets at 19.93 in last season’s Ashes.

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