Josh Hazlewood missed the start of the Ashes due to a hamstring strain. He developed an Achilles tendon injury during rehab and missed the entire Ashes. Hazlewood is set to miss the latter stage of the BBL and the T20I series against Pakistan in January. However, Hazlewood is likely to be fit and feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
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Hazlewood might be back in the Australian playing 11 in a warm-up game before the World Cup. Australia will start their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on February 11. Pat Cummins, who has been named in the provisional T20 World Cup squad, might also not fully recover before the tournament. Tim David is another name included in the provisional squad, but will make it to the final team if he proves his fitness. However, Australia can pick only one player who is not fit to play from the start of the tournament.
“Everything’s going to plan. We took a few extra weeks once we couldn’t make the Test matches. I had a couple of bowls off the half-run last week. Running’s going well, all the strength stuff’s going well so, yeah, on track,” Hazlewood said as quoted by the ESPNCricinfo.
Injury Interruptions and Workload Challenges Since 2020–21
Since the 2020–21 season, when Josh Hazlewood played all four Tests against India, he has completed only one whole home summer without injury. That uninterrupted run came during a stretch of 10 consecutive Tests from the middle of 2023, starting with the Ashes and continuing through to the beginning of the 2024–25 series against India, before it was cut short by calf and side strains. Before the most recent home season, Hazlewood also featured in four Tests within a month during the previous winter, which included the World Test Championship final, followed by three Tests in the West Indies.
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Hazlewood has previously worked closely with medical staff to assess whether recurring patterns underlie his injuries, particularly side strains. He has described the recent hamstring issue as unfortunate timing, while suggesting that the Achilles problem was linked to longer-term ankle niggles he had been managing over the past few years.
Australia’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup 2026
Mitchell Marsh (C), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
