Coming back after a four-month injury layoff, Josh Hazlewood took 20 wickets in the Ashes 2019 in UK at 21.85 and reaffirmed his position among the leaders of Australia's bowling attack. But the right-arm pacer has now revealed it is the "bad habits" he got into with his action that got amplified and resulted in a back stress fracture that had kept him out for so long. 

Those "bad habits" came about as he delivered to a lot of left-handers in the England side that had visited shores down under for the Ashes 2017-18 and lost his usual shape and alignment to be vulnerable to injuries. 

"I just got into some bad habits, probably bowling to England here when they had a lot of left-handers," Hazlewood was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz after his 6-fer in a Shield game for New South Wales. "I kept falling away, and it kept getting worse and worse. Got a little more lateral flexion than what I like and that was the cause for the two stress fractures basically. Probably wasn't getting all my momentum going to the target."

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Hazlewood not only missed the Test series against Sri Lanka in February but also got ruled out of the World Cup 2019 squad that was picked. Prior to which, he was going through a lean patch in Test cricket; doing poorly in South Africa and against India at home. It was a period, the 28-year-old says, he was striving to get the action back in order and bring in some other technical adjustments, which were evident in England. 

"I made a few little changes action-wise. Probably nothing too massive. Just getting things a little straighter. I did some work with that with NSW, with Andre before that Australian A trip."

"Just getting everything back in line and getting the benefits now. Everything feels really nice and I'm using all my energy. There's a bit more on the ball I guess," he added. 

Hazlewood was part of the Australia "A" side that was also there in UK for a shadow tour leading upto the Ashes. He got comfortable with the conditions and found control over the red dukes nicely. 

"I think I bowled reasonably well during the Australian A trip. I just improved the more I bowled. Probably didn't try as hard, just relaxed and did my thing and hit my areas."

"I was pretty happy with how things went from that Worcester game (tour match following the first Test) but there were a couple of one-dayers where I bowled pretty well for Australia A as well," he concluded. 

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)