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Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood has declared himself fully fit ahead of the 2023 Ashes opener against England at the Edgbaston in Birmingham, which starts on June 16. This came after he recently missed out on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Indian Premier League, and the WTC final due to Achilles heel and side soreness.
The 32-year-old faces stiff competition from ICC World Test Championship final hero Scott Boland in the playing XI. The latter scalped five wickets in his absence.
Hazlewood will aim to play only his third Test in the last 15 months. The right-arm pacer had previously missed out on the Edgbaston Test during the 2019 Ashes when Peter Siddle and James Pattinson partnered with Pat Cummins to guide Australia to a 251-run win.
“It’s hard to sit on the sidelines and watch” – Josh Hazlewood raring for a comeback in Ashes
Josh Hazlewood said that he is raring to play in the Ashes after warming the bench for quite some time. He also expressed delight at having several seam bowling options on the England tour for rest and rotation.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, he said:
"No doubt you still want to play every game and it’s hard to sit on the sidelines and watch. There's no shying away from that.
"But potentially if you bowl back-to-back Tests, and you bowl 50 overs in each Test and you’ve got someone like Boland, Starc or myself on the bench, fresh ready to go ready for the next Test, it makes those conversations a little bit easier.”
Hazlewood sounded optimistic despite missing out on the WTC final. He said that this might help him in the five-match series against England.
He told ESPNCricinfo:
"I think if it was a one-off game, I probably could have played. [But] with what is coming up now, it just would have been too big of a risk. This sets me up nicely if I am selected for game one, then we have a nice rest after, and we will take it from there.”
Hazlewood has so far scalped 60 wickets in 14 Tests. In England, he has picked up 36 wickets in eight Tests. Thus, he will be looking to continue his exploits with the ball as Australia aim to win their first Ashes series in England since 2001.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
