Hazlewood unlikely for MCG but fellow quicks firing

Josh Hazlewood looks likely to miss the Boxing Day Test through injury, but Cameron Green and the rest of the Australian bowling attack are raring to go for their attempt at securing the Ashes urn in Melbourne.

Hazlewood, who suffered a side injury during the series opener in Brisbane and missed the ensuing Test in Adelaide, did not bowl at the team’s main session on Friday and instead watched on as Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser both had long bowls in the nets at the Aussie top-order.

Green suggested Hazlewood was firming for a return in the fourth Test at the SCG. 

“He's going really well,” said the 22-year-old allrounder. “He was doing his run-throughs today and he’s looking really good. I haven't spoken to the guys for this game, but definitely lock him in for Sydney.”

Neser, who took a wicket in each innings on Test debut last week, looms as the likely man to make way for returning captain Pat Cummins after he was caught up at a COVID-19 exposure site in Adelaide.

Richardson, playing in first Test in nearly three years as a replacement for Cummins in Adelaide, showcased the depth of Australia’s bowling stocks by breaking England’s final-day resistance with his maiden five-wicket haul and setting the series ledger at 2-0.

Having sent down nearly 40 overs in the pink-ball Test, the skiddy right-armer appeared to dispel doubts over his own fitness by troubling the likes of Steve Smith and Marcus Harris in an impressive swing-bowling spell at training on Friday.

Victorian paceman Scott Boland, player-of-the-match in the MCG’s only Marsh Sheffield Shield game this season, had been called into the Test squad as cover but looks set to have his wait for a Baggy Green extended.

“I spoke to him today and he is good to go,” Green said of his Western Australian teammate Richardson. “He was so pumped after how he went in that second innings, as you would be, and he’s ready to go again.”

Green too shook off his concerns over his own fitness after stand-in captain Smith revealed team management had hoped not to bowl the allrounder on the final day of the second Test.

The towering paceman who has dismissed England captain Joe Root twice in this series has previously had problems with back injuries, but insisted his lack of bowling in Adelaide was simply a precaution.

“I was completely fine and ready to go,” said Green. “We were just in a really good position. Nathan Lyon was bowling beautifully from one end and then we’ve got three world class pace bowlers to choose from. I wasn’t really required.

“They just thought we could get through the game without bowling me (in the second innings) and keep me a bit more fresh for this game. The boys bowled beautifully and credit to them.

“You’re never sure if (injuries are) behind you. Your body starts to mature when you get to 25, 26. I’m still pretty far off that mark.”

Richardson’s zip and ability to shift the ball both ways could see him again be a handful for England, whose captain Joe Root is prepared for a livelier MCG track than the one rated as “poor” by the ICC for the corresponding Ashes fixture four years ago.

Head curator Matthew Page has since injected life into the drop-in pitches that had become synonymous with dour cricket and low bounce.

The surface was sporting a healthy covering of grass two days out from the start of this Test and is expected to play similarly to the one prepared for the Shield match between Victoria and NSW last month.

The pitch for that game, one strip over from the one being used for Boxing Day, earnt high praise players after the match was decided in the final hour of day four.

“I imagine it might play slightly differently to four years ago,” Root told reporters.

“It’s about adapting those conditions, understanding the danger and challenges and where you're going to be able to score those runs, execute and have full confidence and trust in your own ability to do that.”

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena