Josh Hazlewood will return to Australia’s XI for the third NRMA Insurance Test against India with the paceman overcoming the side strained that sidelined him in Adelaide.
Captain Pat Cummins confirmed Scott Boland would make way for Hazlewood at the Gabba, admitting the Victorian was unlucky to lose his spot after he took five wickets in Australia’s second-Test victory.
Hazlewood coming in for Boland is the only change to the home side’s XI that beat India by 10 wickets in Adelaide to level the series at 1-1.
Australia XI for third Test: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood has a history of side strains that Cricket Australia medical staff were wary of leading into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
But Cummins was confident his fellow quick could get through the full Test.
“He’s had no hiccups,” Cummins told reporters on Friday. “He had a really good bowl yesterday, he had another bowl in Adelaide a couple of days previously. Him and the medical team are really confident.”
Cummins conceded he’d had to stop bowling Hazlewood in the first Test in Perth in the interests of not making the injury worse.
The 33-year-old picked up the minor blow to the same side that has caused him issues in recent years but was able to continue bowling.
“It was later on in that second innings,” said Cummins. “Fair to say we probably thought the game was starting to slip away. We still needed six or seven wickets and we were about 400 behind.
“We’ve seen it a few times where Josh has pushed through to get through a Test match and a little bit of soreness turns into a month or two of injury.
“So we made the call then that it probably wasn’t worth the risk of keeping him bowling. I think he bowled an extra two overs leading into a tea break and he said it felt ok, but I just kind of thought from there, ‘that’s enough’.”
Boland counted Virat Kohli among his victims during a stellar return to Test cricket in Adelaide, his first match since last year’s Ashes, but it was not enough to stop the big three fast bowlers from being reunited.
“It’s tough. He was fantastic in Adelaide,” Cummins said of the 35-year-old.
“Unfortunately he’s spent quite a bit of time on the bench over the last 18 months and whenever he plays he’s fantastic.
“It’s a shame for Scotty, but still a fair bit to play out this series. I’d be surprised if he didn’t play again in this series.”
On Test eve, the Gabba surface appeared significantly less green than it had in the lead-in days with groundstaff wary of the 2022 Test here against South Africa that was over in two days. Venue staff conceded that particular strip had been over-watered.
That match marks one of only two victories for Australia over the past four Tests played at a venue once considered their fortress.
Before India breached it in 2020-21, the hosts had not lost here since 1988.
But the heroics of West Indies seamer Shamar Joseph saw Australia defeated in the Queensland capital once again last summer.
“I looked at it yesterday – it looked like a good wicket, like it has been the last few years,” said Cummins.
“A bit of sun baking it the last couple of days (means) I don’t think it’s as green and leafy as it was against South Africa.
Asked about the so-called ‘fortress’ status of the Gabba, he said: “It’s just a venue really. We play at dozens and dozens of venues each year.
“It’s always good coming back to a place that’s familiar … but the scoreboard starts at 0-0, so the venue isn’t the be-all and end-all.”
NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India
First Test: India won by 295 runs
Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets
Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal
