Australia’s Hazlewood ‘on track’ to start T20 World Cup after Ashes absence

MELBOURNE: Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood expects to be ready for the start of the Twenty20 World Cup next month after sitting out their Ashes series victory against England through injuries, the 36-year-old said.

The right-arm quick missed Australia’s 4-1 Ashes victory with a hamstring strain. He subsequently suffered Achilles soreness in his rehabilitation, but was confident he would be ready for Australia’s tournament opener against Ireland in Colombo on February 11.

“Everything’s going to plan,” Hazlewood told the ESPN Cricinfo website. “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.”

Hazlewood’s availability from the start will be a big boost for Australia, who are fretting over the composition of their pace attack.

Australia have named Pat Cummins in the World Cup squad but are considering delaying his return from a lumbar stress injury that prompted the team to rest the quick after his single Ashes appearance in Adelaide.

With their Ashes hero Mitchell Starc retiring from T20 internationals, Xavier Bartlett is set to claim the second pace bowling slot in the group stage of the World Cup.

After the World Cup, Hazlewood will be in action in the Indian Premier League. Later this year, Australia will enter an 11-month stretch during which they will play up to 21 tests.

Hazlewood said it was too early to plan his test workload.

“(With) white ball, you can really sit down and nut it out because you know you’re involved for four or 10 overs pretty much,” he said.

“With the red ball, it is a bit more on the run. You can map out the way you want to train to get ready for that first one, but I think once the tests start then it’s sort of play it by ear and have those conversations on the go.”