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Josh Hazlewood injury update spells danger for ‘unlucky’ Australian Test hero Scott Boland

   

The celebrations will be short-lived for one Aussie star following the series-levelling win over India.

Josh Hazlewood is set to return after ramping up in the nets, according to Pat Cummins.

Despite taking five wickets in his first Test for almost 18 months, popular Australian quick Scott Boland is again likely to find himself on the outer.

Boland was the easiest of inclusions for the day-night Test against India at the Adelaide Oval after Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to a side strain suffered in the Border-Gavaskar series opener.

The 35-year-old didn’t let Australia down, taking match figures of 5-105 in the 10-wicket demolition that finished before the end of the first session on day three.

But Hazlewood’s absence was more precautionary given his lengthy injury history over the past four years and he is likely to be fit for the third Test at the Gabba, starting on Saturday.

Footage of Hazlewood’s net session on Friday — when he said he reached 90 per cent effort — now spells danger for Boland.

“Body’s feeling pretty good. It’s been a long gap between Tests so it’s given me a few more days to try and recover,” Hazlewood told Channel 7 on Saturday.

“We’ve ticked off a few boxes this week so far and I’ve got probably the big one to tick off on (Monday) and bowl a few spells throughout the day and see how it pulls up. Fingers crossed for that day, I think.”

Hazlewood will now go through an extended bowling session in Adelaide on Monday, pressing his case for a return to reunite with his long-term pace partners Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

“Fairly confident he’ll (Hazlewood) be right for Brisbane,” Cummins said on Sunday night.

“If someone needs to make way, they’ll be pretty unlucky.”

While Starc claimed career-best figures of 6-48 on Friday and Cummins took 5-57 in India’s second innings, Boland’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

He should have had a wicket with his first ball of the match, and two from his first over, but for a no-ball and a dropped catch.

“I thought it was a Herculean effort from Starcy and Scotty,” Cummins said.

“It was hot … humid, and basically just kept rotating the bowlers and bowling all day. Huge effort from those guys, who showed their class.

“I feel very lucky as a captain to have those guys, and then having someone like (Nathan Lyon), who we didn’t even need to call on.

“It feels I’ve got a lot of tools at my disposal, so I feel very lucky.”

Since famously making his debut on Boxing Day 2021, when he steamrolled England with 6-7, Boland has taken 40 wickets at an average of 20.42 from 11 matches.

Before being included for the day-night Test in Adelaide, the Victorian quick last played for Australia in the third match of the Ashes in July, 2023.

Australia had 10 days off after being smashed in Perth by 295 runs when they spent 184 overs in the field, but there is a short turnaround to the third Test.

“We bought ourselves a couple days even bowling first. It buys you an extra day even if the game went a distance,” Cummins said.

“Two games into the series, I feel really good, probably better than you normally do.

“We’ll get up to Brisbane, we’ll recover well, that’s a priority for the next three or four days, and then be ready to go again.”

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