Josh Hazlewood has turned into a T20 star but won’t have bowled a red ball in a game since April when the first Ashes Test comes around.
Josh Hazlewood is confident “one or two big days” of red-ball training will have him Ashes ready despite a white-ball heavy lead-up and no first class cricket since April.
The Australian fast bowler has come from the T20 wilderness to make himself a World Cup matchwinner, ensuring Hazlewood doesn’t see a red ball until the middle of November at the earliest.
He took 2-19 in Australia’s opening World Cup win in South Africa and is set for a big campaign coming off a start turn for Chennai in their Indian Premier League title win.
Depending on Australia’s progression though the tournament, Hazlewood could be left without a Sheffield Shield warm-up for the opening Ashes Test at the Gabba on December 8.
The same could be the case for fellow fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, but Hazlewood, who has been away from home since July after also playing ODIs and T20s in the West Indies and Bangladesh, dismissed it as an issue.
“I don’t feel like I need a match of any sort,” he said from the UAE.
“It’s more the miles in the legs. One or two big days of training, where we might bowl 14 or 16 overs in a day with some fielding.
“If we get that under our belts then I’m fine.”
Test spinner Nathan Lyon will start his Ashes campaign in earnest this week when NSW finally gets its Shield season started against Victoria.
Hazlewood is confident his T20 World Cup can help improve his red-ball bowling, bringing “tricks” into play, and he will be well placed when the Ashes starts.
“In all the formats I tend to bowl pretty similarly, except obviously the back end of T20s,” he said.
“But my first two overs upfront, that’s pretty much how I’m going to bowl in Test cricket, so I don’t really notice as much difference, red or white ball.
“There’s certainly times within Test matches where your T20 bowling comes into play.
“Depending on how the game’s flowing and whether a team’s trying to set up a chase or are chasing a total on day five and the wicket’s still good.
“You have to have your own tricks, rather than using the wicket, so there’s certainly times, probably when the tail’s slogging at the end and the line and length is probably the easiest ball to hit, you can start with some slower balls or slower ball bouncers and just put them out of that rhythm.
“The more T20 you play, the more confident you’re going to get in those change-ups and putting them into practice.
“On day five and the wicket is still good, you have to use your own tricks.”
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