Josh Hazlewood hopes that England “can do a good job” for Australia by thrashing India in the ongoing four-match Test series so that the Tim Paine-led side can play the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) at Lord’s later this year.
While New Zealand had already qualified for the final of the World Test Championship after Australia's three-match Test series against South Africa got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second finalist depends on the result of the ongoing Test series between India and England.
Australia can only make it to the World Test Championship final if England wins the four-match Test series 2-1 or the series stands level at 1-1 or 2-2 in India.
Read Also: IND v ENG 2021: Rameez Raja slams England for their player rotation policy
As reported by cricket.com.au, Hazlewood said on Unplayable Podcast: “I probably wouldn't be watching it at all in normal cases. But we're riding the result a bit and just keeping an eye on it here and there and hopefully, England can do a good job for us. It's a strange feeling, although just being beaten by India you don't mind ... going for England.”
The fast bowler also opened the postponement of Australia’s recent Test tour of South Africa by saying, “You never want to miss a Test tour, which is probably why it was such a difficult decision and it really hurts our chances in the Test Championship as well.”
He added, “It takes that (playing in the final) out of our hands and we have to watch this series going on now (in India) and focus on that and try and get the right result there. It's disappointing we could potentially miss out on that (the WTC final) and that's why it was such a difficult decision to make.”
Read Also: "Not done and dusted yet" - Glenn Maxwell eyes Australia Test return next year
On Australia’s recent Test series loss to India last month, Hazlewood said: “We tried our best at the time, and looking back we could have done a few things differently here and there, obviously in those last two games. But I think Melbourne goes under the radar a bit too, we didn't play great cricket there and got beaten pretty comprehensively.”
He signed off by saying, “The last two Tests we were frontrunning the whole game, didn't quite get there in Sydney and they played beautifully the last day in Brisbane. But in general, pretty proud with how we went about it, just got beaten by a better team on the day.”
(With ANI Inputs)
