Follow UsAustralia’s Josh Hazlewood revealed that he was ‘desperate’ to play the Headingley Test for which he was rested, but admitted that, in hindsight, the coach and the captain ultimately made the right call taking into consideration the bigger picture.
The fourth Test at Old Trafford starts on Wednesday (July 19) and Hazlewood is expected to return to Australia’s XI in place of Scott Boland, who had a disappointing outing at Headingley, going wicketless. The 32-year-old said that he was ‘fine’ to play at Headingley but acknowledged that the rest has now set him up to play the rest of the series fully, with there being a short turnaround between the fourth and the fifth Tests.
“I felt pretty good going into the (Headingley) game. It was probably the right call now I can sit back and look at the big picture," Hazlewood said on Monday.
"I was desperate to play, which is obvious, but now it makes sense. Missing Headingley is probably the reason to set me up for the last two games.”
Hazlewood admitted that he was a little bit underdone ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India — which he sat out — but asserted that he is in much better shape now, having gotten close to 60 overs under his belt so far this series.
He also said that he feels fresh, largely thanks to England’s aggressive style of play which does not focus on grinding the opposition bowlers out.
"We haven't bowled a lot of overs in terms of what Test matches usually look like for us," he said.
"The way England play, it gets us in the field for a little less in terms of workload.
"I was probably a little bit underdone for that World Test Championship (Final) and then got ready for the first game. I didn't seem too rusty when I was out there in the middle. Once you get that big day of workload underneath you, you feel a lot better. Hopefully after that little break, I'll come out firing again.
“I know they (the last two Tests) are back-to-back, but we haven't bowled a lot of overs. Hopefully with that work behind me now, I'm in a better position than I was a month ago. That sort of puts me in a good place to hopefully get through those last two games and play my role and do what I usually do."
While England have three seamers — Broad, Robinson and Anderson — who have sent down more than 75 overs, Cummins is the only Australian seamer in this Ashes to have bowled 70+ overs.
Despite the loss at Headingley, Australia are still in pole position in this series, thanks to victories at Lord’s and Edgbaston. Avoiding defeat in one of the final two Tests will ensure that the urn will stay in Australia for the sixth consecutive year.