Australian Pacer Confident of Returning for T20 World Cup
Despite missing most of the Ashes due to injury, Josh Hazlewood is confident of being fit for Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign in India & Sri Lanka next month.
Josh Hazlewood suffered a hamstring strain at the start of the England series. During rehabilitation, he also picked up an Achilles issue. On December 9th, he was ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes, to focus on being fully fit for the T20 World Cup. As a result, the Australian pacer will miss the latter stages of the Big Bash League and the T20I series against Pakistan in late January.
However, he is targeting a warm-up match ahead of the T20 World Cup early next month. Australia’s schedule also helps his recovery. Their first match is against Ireland on February 11, giving Hazlewood extra time to get match-ready.
Chair of selectors George Bailey has earlier said Australia may delay Pat Cummins’ return if required. However, the team cannot carry more than one player who is unavailable at the start of the tournament. And with Mitchell Starc retired from T20Is, Hazlewood and Cummins become all the more vital in the Aussie squad.
“Everything’s going to plan. We took a few extra weeks once we couldn’t make the Test matches. I had a couple of bowls off the half-run last week. Running’s going well, all the strength stuff’s going well so, yeah, on track,” said Hazlewood in a recent interview.
Josh Hazlewood and his recent injuries
Since the 2020-21 season, when Hazlewood played all four Tests against India, he has completed only one full home summer without injury. That came during a ten-Test stretch from the 2023 Ashes through to the start of the 2024-25 India series.
That run later ended due to calf and side strains. Before this summer, Hazlewood also played four Tests in one month, including the World Test Championship final and three Tests in the West Indies.
Hazlewood has previously worked closely with medical staff to identify recurring injury patterns, especially side strains. He described the recent hamstring injury as bad luck, while the Achilles issue stemmed from long-term ankle niggles.
He was in strong form during the white-ball series against India in October before breaking down. The injury came after he bowled on three consecutive days in a Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at the SCG.
Josh Hazlewood on workload before red-ball return
Hazlewood said he may adjust his bowling workload when preparing for red-ball cricket next season, starting with Tests against Bangladesh in August.
“Sometimes, when one thing goes and the other thing resurfaces,” Hazlewood said.
“But we’re still working on implementing training a different way a little bit. My gym and everything is still mostly the same, but I think purely from a bowling workload, leading into the next red-ball game, do as much as we can in terms of just dicing it up a little bit differently.”
He explained a possible shift in workload patterns, with spells of bowling on consecutive days followed by longer rest periods, instead of spreading sessions across alternate days.
T20 World Cup first, then IPL and a long Test calendar
While the T20 World Cup is Hazlewood’s immediate focus, he will then turn his attention to the IPL, where he will play for defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Later this year, Australia face a demanding red-ball schedule, with up to 21 Tests in 11 months, including marquee away series in India and England. The five-Test series in India next January could allow fast bowlers to rotate, especially if conditions favour spin.
Hazlewood admitted it is difficult to plan too far ahead in Test cricket due to workload demands.
“With white ball, you can really sit down and nut it out. But Test matches are more on the run. You can map out how to train for the first one, but once the Tests start, you play it by ear,” he said
Josh Hazlewood turned 35 earlier this month. He also joked about his place in the attack.
“I feel young in that attack,” he said.
“But I’m certainly realistic. The hardest hurdle for me is the first one. If you get over that, things can roll on.”
Australia Provisional Squad for 2026 T20 World Cup
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
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