Josh Hazlewood Breaks Silence On 300-Test Wicket Milestone Ahead Of Bangladesh Series

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is just five wickets away from reaching the milestone of 300 Test wickets. However, the experienced pacer says personal achievements are not on his mind as Australia prepare for a demanding schedule of 21 Test matches over the next year.

Hazlewood to join elite list

Hazlewood is set to return to Test cricket after a gap of 13 months when Australia face Bangladesh in the first Test in Darwin. He missed last summer’s successful Ashes campaign at home because of a hamstring injury followed by a calf problem.

If he reaches the 300-wicket mark in Darwin, Hazlewood will become only the seventh Australian fast bowler to achieve the feat, joining legends such as Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.

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Away series remain the biggest motivation

While the milestone is within touching distance, Hazlewood said his attention is firmly on helping Australia succeed in the major overseas Test series coming up.

“I think every time you look ahead in sport it can bite you pretty quickly. I’ve always done that. I’ve looked at it like that literally day in day out for the last few weeks here, ticking boxes, getting workloads in. Next week’s another tick, and then I guess once you get through all that, then you look at Darwin. So everything else is a long way away. Just take it as it comes.

“This group’s been together for quite a long time now – the majority of it, anyway – and the big series are obviously England and India. I haven’t won in South Africa either, so there’s three that are coming up … a few boxes to tick off there (for) not just me, (but) this whole playing group.”

“That’s been a driving factor during this prep, in the back of your head, and even (in) the months leading into it. (They’re) some real big Test series, and they’re all away, so (it’s) tough competition and hopefully we get the job done,” Hazlewood told reporters during Australia’s training camp on Thursday.

Hazlewood eager to share the attack with Scott Boland

Australia’s packed Test calendar is expected to require careful workload management for its fast bowlers. Hazlewood believes there will be enough opportunities for several seamers to contribute and said he is looking forward to playing alongside Scott Boland more often.

Boland impressed during the Ashes while Hazlewood was sidelined, and the senior quick praised his teammate’s consistent performances.

“I’d love to play more with Scotty. We’re obviously a little bit similar, but I think there’s still a lot of differences in our bowling. Every time he’s come in, he’s done unbelievably well. His career just keeps getting better and better the older he gets.

“I think there’s enough opportunities in the next 12 months, 18 months for us to play a lot of cricket hopefully together; that’d be a nice one to tick off. But I think as four quicks, we’ve got Ness (Michael Neser) and Doggy (Brendan Doggett) there as well. So I think we’ll have to lean on all six at some point in the next sort of 18 months,” he added.

Special preparation ahead of Test return

Hazlewood has spent the last few weeks training at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, where the coaching staff designed sessions to closely match the physical demands of Test cricket.

Unlike previous series, where white-ball matches limited his red-ball preparation, he has been able to focus entirely on building the workload needed for long spells in Test matches.

“I think this is probably the first time we’ve actually had a lead in to a Test without any cricket in terms of games. It’s been big days, Tuesdays, Thursdays mostly, with some other stuff filtered in around that, and then last week we had a few back-to-back days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and again next week I think back-to-back.

“Leading into other Test series and Test matches, you’re playing T20, you’re playing one-dayers, you’re travelling, so it’s tough to fit those bowling sessions in. This has been sort of tailor-made for a Test match, which is I think should work out well. It’s just trying to replicate a day in the field of Test cricket. Really, it’s bowling multiple spells in a day. It’s bowling back-to-back days,” he concluded.

Australia squad for Bangladesh Tests

Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald and Beau Webster.