Buoyed by an outstanding IPL, Australia quick Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling better than at any point in his decorated career.
Struck down by niggling injuries in recent years, Hazlewood could be forgiven for starting to taper having already taken 279 wickets from 72 Tests.
But the fit-again 34-year-old is going to give selectors significant headaches when picking the XI for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s, starting on Wednesday.
It is an identical dilemma to two years ago when Scott Boland was chosen ahead of Hazlewood, who had been recovering from side issues, for the ultimately successful decider against India.
“I was quite close last time, I just had more of an interrupted IPL leading into that and wasn’t quite up to scratch,” Hazlewood said at Australia’s training base in Beckenham.
“But I feel in much better place this time around, and I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so I’ve got a lot to fall back on.
“Skill wise, I still feel like I’m bowling the best I have in my career and it’s just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months.”
Hazlewood managed just two Tests last summer, breaking down at the Gabba with a calf injury, as Australia won back the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time in a decade.
The right-armer also missed the two-Test trip to Sri Lanka, played on spin-friendly pitches, to make sure he was ready to perform later in the year.
Although he did suffer a slight shoulder injury, Hazlewood ultimately played a starring role in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s breakthrough IPL title triumph last Tuesday.
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Coming off a T20 workload, he has less than a week to get ready for his first Test since December.
“I ticked over some good overs just before the [IPL] final in Ahmedabad, in different weather than [England’s], so it was quite a tough session,” Hazlewood said.
“Then every time you play a game in IPL, you’re probably going to get almost seven or eight overs in when you factor in warm ups.”
