Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins made a return to bowling ahead of the second Ashes Test, which is scheduled to commence on December 4. The duo did not feature in the series-opening clash, which the hosts won by eight wickets in Perth.
Hazlewood and Cummins were spotted training at Cricket Central in Sydney, the same venue at which New South Wales were taking on Tasmania in their Sheffield Shield clash. Hazlewood is recovering from his hamstring injury. On the other hand, Cummins has been working his way from a back issue. The two were spotted bowling with the red and pink ball, respectively.
Australian head coach Andrew McDonald provided valuable updates on both players. He said that Hazlewood will definitely be a part of the XI at some point during the series. As for Cummins, McDonald seemed more optimistic on his progress but was wary of not harming his progress from injury by pushing him too hard.
“I know that he’ll be available at some point during the series. We’ve got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series. It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation. The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There’s a lot of positives, but now it’s just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we’re not putting him in harm’s way in terms of accelerating it too much,” stated McDonald, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
While it seems Cummins might get fit in time to play the pink-ball Test, it is understood that Hazlewood will be available from the third Test onwards. The second Test of the series is scheduled to commence on December 4 in Brisbane.
In the case of both returning, it seems highly likely that Scott Boland and Brendan Doggett will make way. Boland bagged four while Doggett for five wickets in Perth. The experienced left-arm pace of Mitchell Starc starred with a 10-wicket match haul and also claimed the Player of the Match award for his masterclass.
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