Josh Hazlewood currently sits at No. 2 on the ICC’s ODI bowling rankings, but the Australian quick could find himself sidelined throughout the upcoming World Cup in India.
The Bendemeer Bullet, who was not selected for the 2019 World Cup, has been one of Australia’s most consistent white-ball cricketers since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, taking 30 wickets at 25.43 with an economy rate of just 4.18.
However, pending team balance and subcontinent conditions, there may not be room for Hazlewood in the starting XI for some of Australia’s World Cup matches.
If Australia wanted to include Ashton Agar as a second spinner or Cameron Green to strengthen batting depth, Hazlewood would be the unlucky player who misses out. Mitchell Starc was the leading wicket-taker in Australia’s two previous World Cup campaigns, while Pat Cummins is the team captain.
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Speaking to reporters at the SCG on Tuesday morning, where Cricket Australia announced a five-year partnership with HCLTech, Hazlewood confirmed the Test side’s squad mentality from the recent Ashes campaign would extend into this year’s World Cup.
“In India, you face so many different conditions all around the country. It changes from Chennai to Dharamshala to Mumbai,” Hazlewood explained.
“We’ve got a few different ways we can stack our team. We’ve got obviously the all-rounders, we’ve got a number of them, they can pretty much all play together at times when they’re all fit.
“We can go the quicks route, play three quicks, or even less, then we’ve got the spinners that come into play as well.
“Sometimes in a tournament, the further you go in, the wickets get a bit worn towards the back-end, so I think the team can stack up any different way.”
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Australia experimented with its team balance during March’s ODI series against India, picking only three specialist bowlers in Mumbai and two strike spinners in Chennai. The Australians will continue trialling different line-ups throughout the upcoming tour of South Africa and next month’s three-match ODI series against India.
Cummins, who is recovering from a wrist injury he sustained during the final Ashes Test in London, is expected to miss the ODI fixtures against South Africa. Australia will share around the captaincy duties in his absence, with Hazlewood, Steve Smith, Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh among the candidates.
Hazlewood led Australia during an ODI against England at the SCG last November, while Carey captained the team in a white-ball series against the West Indies in 2021. However, Cummins confirmed a permanent deputy would be decided before the World Cup gets underway in October.
“The captaincy for the ODIs we’ve kind of shared around a little bit,” Cummins told reporters on Tuesday.
“Smithy has done a couple. Joshy Hazlewood has done one. Mitch (Marsh) is there, Alex Carey is there as well … we have a few options. (Marsh) is probably the most obvious one if he’s doing the T20s as well.
“I wouldn’t be surprised with the number of ODIs before the World Cup, some guys might miss a game as well, so if Mitch misses one, someone else might step up.”
Australia’s ODI series against South Africa gets underway in Bloemfontein on September 7.
