Australian cricket fans have received positive news regarding the fitness of key fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, with team management confident he will feature at some stage during the ongoing Ashes series against England.
Injury Setback and Recovery Timeline
The star quick missed Australia's first Test victory in Perth after sustaining a hamstring injury while playing for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield. Despite ongoing speculation about the severity of his condition, the national team has not provided a formal update on the 34-year-old since ruling him out of the Ashes opener over a week ago.
Coach Andrew McDonald addressed the situation on Monday, revealing that Hazlewood is currently navigating the initial phase of his rehabilitation program. While specific return dates remain unclear, McDonald expressed optimism about the bowler's eventual participation in the series.
Coach's Confidence in Hazlewood's Return
McDonald's comments provide reassurance about Hazlewood's availability, particularly given the bowler's recent injury challenges. Hazlewood played only two of the five Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests last summer and subsequently missed Australia's tour of spin-dominated Sri Lanka in January due to fitness concerns.
"He's working through the first week of his rehab," McDonald stated. "I'm not sure that we need to give an update on that. Once he gets further down the track and we have some rough timelines, then we'll be in a position to communicate that."
The coach added with conviction: "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."
Cummins Nearing Return for Second Test
In additional encouraging news for the Australian camp, captain Pat Cummins appears close to making his comeback for the second Test. The pace ace has been building up his bowling workload in the nets as he recovers from a back stress injury that threatened his participation in the entire series.
Cummins admitted on Saturday that he had initially feared missing the whole Ashes campaign, but his recovery has progressed well. McDonald confirmed that Cummins has been pulling up strongly from extended training sessions, raising hopes he could return to lead the attack at the Gabba.
"For those who saw him in Perth — I did say this a while back, that he will be up and bowling in Perth, and people will be sitting there questioning why he's not playing," McDonald explained. "That was what presented to us. It looked like a player that was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation. The intensity was there, the ball speed was there."
The coach emphasized the importance of managing Cummins' return carefully: "So there's a lot of positives there, but now it's just really building that resilience there, and making sure that we're not putting him in harm's way in terms of accelerating it too much. But it will be a genuine discussion leading into this Test match, and that may be one that eventuates late for us."
