Australia’s chief selector George Bailey has made it clear that Josh Hazlewood will return to the playing Xi if he is declared fit to play in the fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 against England to be played from January 5 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Hazlewood missed the second and third Tests after a side strain in the Ashes opener against England at the Gabba. He gently bowled for 35 minutes in the MCG nets on Thursday, December 30, but he still appeared in some discomfort, though he has four more days to attain full fitness for the fourth Test.
With Australia having already retained the Ashes after taking an unassailable 3-0 lead, Hazlewood can be given more time to recuperate, but Bailey has insisted that his panel would not hold the pacer back if he is fit to play in Sydney.
The chief selector also stated that with five in-form quicks, the selection panel will have to make some difficult decisions ahead of the fourth Ashes Test against England in Sydney.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Bailey said: “I've got pretty good faith in Hoff knowing his own body and trusting his own body. He'll build up as he would before any sort of Test. He'll talk a lot with [assistant] Andrew McDonald and [physio] David Beakley to see how he's going. If Hoff's confident and he says he's right to go I think we back him in. He's earned that trust.”
He also hinted that Mitchell Starc would not sit out for the Sydney Test, despite being the only pacer who has not rested for a Test match this summer.
Bailey signed off by saying, “Your plans are constantly changing because you've got no idea how many overs the bowlers are going to bowl. So you've got to stay pretty fluid around that. Today would have been day five. So our quicks, in particular, not having as heavy a workload as they had in Adelaide and a couple of extra days off will all work in their favor.”
(With ANI Inputs)
