By Daniel Brettig
Josh Hazlewood plans to attack England’s Bazballers in the same way he and Mitchell Starc flattened India in the first match of the home international season, declaring he wants the same lively Perth pitch rolled out for the start of the Ashes.
In the absence of Pat Cummins with a back injury that will keep the captain out of at least the first Ashes Test and probably more, much will rest on whether Hazlewood and Starc can stay fit alongside Scott Boland.
Save this pitch for the Ashes: Josh Hazlewood liked what he saw in Perth.Credit: Getty Images
Since Cummins was appointed skipper in 2021, Hazlewood has missed multiple Tests in every home summer but one – when he played all five Tests against Pakistan and West Indies in 2023-24.
After plucking the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer in Perth, either side of Starc’s dismissal of Virat Kohli, Hazlewood made no secret of his eagerness for a similar pitch on which to test the outside edges of England’s top six.
“For sure,” Hazlewood said when asked if he wanted a similar pitch for the first Ashes Test. “Perth always offers some nice bounce and pace which has served us well in the past, especially with our bowlers who all offer something different.
“It was a nice start. [My] rhythm felt good off the back of New Zealand. Everything is feeling good at the moment, a nice way to start the build [to the Ashes].”
Former Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy took a similar view on Monday, arguing that the England tourists were setting themselves up for a similarly startling welcome to India by only playing one internal tour game against England Lions before the first ball of the Ashes.
“England will win a Test,” Healy said on SEN Radio. “[But] you will see how you look when you’re underdone in Perth – I hope England watch it.
“It was swinging and bouncing. All the batsmen were playing outrageous shots and getting caught. England watch out, you’re doing the same thing. They’re coming in underdone and our fast bowlers looked fresh and sharp last night.
“Are England going to win a Test? Yes, but I think it will be close, maybe 2-2. Perth is the most important Test. If England lose in Perth they will lose 3-1. Win in Perth it’s 2-2.”
Aged 34 and 35 respectively, Hazlewood and Starc are entering the career phase that has often seen the end for fast bowlers, but the former is insistent that he can play all five Tests this summer.
“That’s the life of a fast bowler, everyone is carrying some sort of niggle,” Hazlewood said of Cummins. “My body feels great right now, I am very confident of getting through all five without any dramas.”
Irrespective of his fitness record, Hazlewood has improved demonstrably with age in terms of his craft and results.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.Credit: AP
In the first 40 Tests of his career to 2018, Hazlewood took a more than respectable 151 wickets at 26.84, striking every 57.3 balls.
But in the most recent 36, Hazlewood has returned figures superior even to those of Cummins, with 144 wickets at 21.45 and a strike rate of 46.9 balls per wicket. At 24.21, Hazlewood’s career Test bowling average is now at its lowest since 2015.
To some degree the stop-start nature of the Perth ODI was a potential banana skin in terms of injuries, and Hazlewood said it had been something of a relief to get through and travel to Adelaide without any setbacks.
“Those games are always niggly for the quicks,” he said.
“Its a balance of trying to stay warm and in the moment, especially when the breaks are short like that.”
Off-ramp: Konstas plays another cameo in Victorian win
Sam Konstas played two ramp shots on Tuesday afternoon. The first went for four, but the second cost him his leg stump.
Such are the extremes of watching Konstas presently, as the 20-year-old incumbent Test opener ended a two-game Sheffield Shield and one day cup stand at Junction Oval with scores of zero, 53 and 20 from 16 balls.
Konstas has one more Shield game, against Queensland at the Gabba, before selectors name their squad for the first Ashes Test in Perth.
Costly ramp shot: Sam Konstas is clean bowled by Cameron McClure.Credit: Getty Images
Former Test batting stalwart Mike Hussey has suggested that 20-year-old Konstas needs a couple of seasons in Shield cricket before he returns to Test level.
“I would just love to see Sam go back to Shield cricket, stay there for a year or two, score lots of runs for NSW and learn about his game,” Hussey said on Fox Cricket during the first ODI between Australia and India in Perth.
“If I am being honest I really feel for the young man. Given the opportunity last year against India, played that amazing innings we saw at the MCG which just had us all gobsmacked, but we all knew that was not a sustainable way to be successful in Test match cricket.
“He has obviously got enormous talent, but he is still young. He is still trying to figure out what his best batting looks like.”
With Kurtis Patterson, Konstas appeared to have NSW on the road to a successful chase in a game reduced to 36 overs by rain.
Their union of 54 in just five overs was ended by Konstas’ exit to Cam McClure, and a rush of wickets followed. At 9-155 chasing 184, the Blues looked well and truly out of the game.
But allrounder Charlie Stobo (47) took 19 from Todd Murphy’s penultimate over, starting with a big six and then aided by a misfield, to turn a game that had long appeared likely to be sealed by Victoria.
Needing just six runs from the final six balls, Stobo declined a single first ball but then skied the second to give the hosts their second victory from the two games by a margin of five runs.
Having earlier taken 3-32 with the ball, Stobo was the main reason that the Blues had got so close.
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