‘If I played a sport where there was only one format, I’d be sort of thinking towards the end right now.’
Star Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood will reportedly leave the West Indies early after it was expected he would play in the Twenty20 series.
The Aussies have one more Test to play against the hosts with that match kicking off on July 13 at Sabina Park in Kingston. Following the conclusion of that Test, the T20 Internationals will then start at the same venue on July 21.
The 34-year-old Hazlewood is keen to play white-ball cricket and was named in the 16-man squad for the T20 series against the Windies.
But it has now been reported that that won’t happen as Australia begin to manage the in-form bowler’s workload.
The pink-ball Test in Kingston will be Australia’s last before the Ashes begins in Perth on November 21.
But before then Australia will take on South Africa, then New Zealand and then India in a mix of T20 and One-Day International games.
Fellow veteran bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will also be rested for the T20s against the West Indies and so will star batter (and three-format player) Travis Head.
Hazlewood was the star of the first Test against the West Indies, blowing them away with a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
It was his 13th Test “five-fer” and he is now eight wickets shy of 300 Test wickets.
He is expected to play in the T20 clash with South Africa when that series begins at Marrara Stadium in Darwin on August 10.
Hazlewood missed half of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in the summer after suffering a calf injury, and his recovery was slow.
The veteran quick then battled a shoulder niggle that at one stage threatened to rule him out of returning to the IPL, before eventually being cleared.
He did not play in the Tests against Sri Lanka and there were concerns that he might miss the ICC World Test Championship match in June (he did however manage to get himself up for the match against South Africa).
Exciting Queensland paceman Xavier Bartlett has been tipped to come in for Hazlewood despite not being named in the original T20 squad.
“There are a number of players outside the squad who can still force their way into the mix,” chief selector George Bailey said last month.
“The connection, role development and combinations we will have as options are growing nicely as we build towards the World Cup.”
Mitch Marsh will again captain Australia in the T20 series and rising Tasmanian batter Mitch Owen is expected to debut.
“I think if I played a sport where there was only one format, I’d be sort of thinking towards the end right now, but I think having the three formats, it just sort of keeps refreshing you time after time, and different challenges, and the game moves along at different paces in different formats, and things change and keeps you guessing,” Hazlewood told News Corp.
“It’s just about not necessarily retiring from a format. It’s just managing those different formats. And there’s obviously bigger series than others in different formats.”
