A couple of days after Josh Hazlewood was picked for the T20 World Cup, the Australia camp has been hit by concerns over their premier pacer’s fitness.
With Pat Cummins already ruled out of the mega event and Mitchell Starc having retired from the shortest version of the game, Hazlewood was the only one among Australia’s current premier pacers who was in the Cup squad.
But cricket.com.au reported on Monday that Hazlewood is likely to miss the early stages of the World Cup as he will remain in Sydney while he rehabilitates from the Achilles injury that ruined his Ashes summer.
Australia’s first match is on February 11, against Ireland in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Hazlewood, by the way, is not the only concern for Australia. Injury clouds linger over their other two first-choice options with the ball — pacer Nathan Ellis is yet to recover fully from a
hamstring issue and spinner Adam Zampa is nursing a groin niggle.
Pacer Sean Abbott has been named as a travelling reserve. Seamers Ben Dwarshuis and Xavier Bartlett, along with spinner Matthew Kuhnemann and all-rounder Cooper Connolly are the other bowling options in Australia’s 15-player squad.
Zampa did not bat in the final T20I against Pakistan on Sunday, but Australia captain Mitchell Marsh insisted that there was nothing to worry. “He (Zampa) just had some awareness in his groin. At this stage, leading to the World Cup, there was no risk to be taken. So that’s all that was,” Marsh said.
Marsh is also not losing sleep over their 0-3 series loss to Pakistan. “In isolation, purely in this series, we struggled. We’ve got great trust that we can play well in these conditions,” he said in Lahore.
