“It’s really tough,” Cummins says about losing Josh Hazlewood for the rest of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy matches
Andrew McGlashan18-Dec-20240:55
Cummins on Hazlewood: ‘Story of the last few summers’
Australia have insisted that Travis Head will be fit to take his place in the Boxing Day Test against India after he experienced some discomfort with a tight quad on the final day in Brisbane.Head appeared slightly restricted towards the backend of his second innings and did not take the field for India’s brief chase before rain halted the match for the final time. There was initial speculation that it was a groin problem, but that was emphatically denied by a Cricket Australia spokesperson”Trav, he’ll be fine, it’s a bit of a tight quad, he’ll be fine for Melbourne,” captain Pat Cummins said after the match.Related
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At the post-match presentation, Head said, “It’s been a big couple of weeks. But I’ll be fine.”Australia had already lost one key player during the Gabba Test, with Josh Hazlewood picking up a calf strain during warm-ups on the third day. Cummins confirmed Hazlewood would miss the remainder of the series. Scott Boland is expected to return at the MCG.Hazlewood’s latest injury came in his comeback match from the side strain that kept him out of the second Test in Adelaide and means, after a setback-free run from mid-2023 where he played ten consecutive Tests, he will miss more matches than he plays this season.”It’s really tough,” Cummins said. “It’s been the story, outside of last summer, of the last few summers. The extra layer to that [is] he’s probably one of the most disciplined, professional sportspeople you could meet [with] the way he trains and prepares. When he’s at home he’s in the gym every second day or every day, doing whatever it takes to try and minimise injuries. Think that’s an extra kind of blow, knowing how much he’s put into his body in the last few years to try and play as many Tests as he can.”It’s one of those [injuries] you can’t really predict, but we value him. Unfortunately, he’ll miss this series. I don’t know exactly when he’ll be right to go again but even in the little snippets we’ve seen this series it shows how much we rate him and how much of an impact he can have.”Travis Head hit his second century of the series in Brisbane, but ended the Test with “a tight quad”•Cricket Australia via Getty Images
However, Head, Australia’s most in-form batter, would have been an even bigger hole to fill so his positive prognosis is vital for the home side. He has made back-to-back destructive centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane, the first setting up victory and the second putting Australia in a dominant position.Cummins confirmed that there had been consideration to opening with Head on the final day after Australia had secured a lead of 185, following a defiant last-wicket stand between Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep which removed the option of the follow on.However, ultimately the decision was to stick with openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney in what became a strange second innings, where Mitchell Marsh was promoted to No. 4, in which they were 33 for 5 in 11 overs making it a little unclear what the objective was until Cummins flayed 22 off ten deliveries.”[We were] always trying to set up the game,” Cummins said. “[A] day-five wicket, it always felt like there were plenty of wickets on offer so just trying to get a bit of a total then try and then have enough overs to take those ten wickets. The number in your head always keeps changing as the weather does.”With Hazlewood limited to just six overs in the first innings, a significant bowling load fell on the shoulders of Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who sent down 46 of the 78.5 overs India faced in their first innings. Cummins acknowledged it had been tough work on the fourth day but that the regular rain breaks had meant they had not felt overburdened.Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc took on most of Australia’s bowling load in Josh Hazlewood’s absence•AFP/Getty Images
“We are feeling really good,” Cummins said of himself and Starc. “It was hot yesterday but we’d had about seven days off bowling after Adelaide so we were fresh, ready to go, and if anything the rain breaks helped us get little breaks yesterday.”Marsh, who effectively became Australia’s third seamer, only sent down two overs (having bowled just four in Adelaide) but Cummins said he would have been used more extensively if a fuller run chase had played out. Before the match, Marsh had reiterated he was able to bowl as much as the captain needed him following doubts over his fitness after Perth where he had pulled up sore following 17 overs in the opening Test.”We went in thinking we’d need a lot more from Mitchy Marsh but felt like we got enough breaks so he wasn’t needed as much,” Cummins said. “Also [had] a bit of an eye to the second innings so when we had a fresh new ball, it would have landed on Mitchy a lot to try and take those ten wickets. I suspect we’ll call on Mitch and some stage in the next couple of Tests to get us a breakthrough or two.”Australia’s selectors will meet over the next 24 hours and the squad is due to come back together in Melbourne on Monday ahead of the Boxing Day Test.