NEWS
Follow UsFormer Australia captain Aaron Finch feels that Josh Hazlewood, who got injured for the second time in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and was ruled out of the remainder of it during the Gabba Test, should be handled with care.
Finch went as far as to say that the pacers’ Tests should be cherry-picked by selectors to prolong his career.
"With Hazlewood, he's getting injured more and more regularly so that would be a real concern. I think there's an opportunity to maybe even cherry-pick the games that he plays in the future.
"Everyone knows he's in that best three bowlers in Australia, or best four adding Nathan Lyon, but you need him on the park… [So, Australia might have to consider] picking the best conditions for Josh Hazlewood to have an impact and rotate the rest around that,” Finch told ESPNCricinfo.
As Hazlewood himself admitted, no rotation policy is currently part of Australia’s playing policy. In that scenario, resting players becomes difficult.
"We field the same question every year - if you're fit, you play and if you're not, you don't play. It's as simple as that, no one rests a Test match," said the 33-year-old ahead of the start of BGT.
Callum Ferguson, another former Australia cricketer, said that since the guys on the line to replace the likes of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins in case of injury are not very young either and thus rotation of pacers is right there on the card, it's just that the selectors are not willing to pick that card.
"Guys coming in behind aren't the youngest either when you think of Scott Boland, Michael Neser, who is out with a hamstring injury at the moment as well, so we need to start thinking what's the best way to maximise the impact of these guys and how do we elongate their careers.
"We don't want them to play less cricket, we want them to play more and I think a rotation policy might be the best way forward here because those five or six quicks are good, and are up to it so let's try and elongate their careers and rotating might be the best way forward,” Ferguson said.
Hazlewood explained the history of his injury saying that it is not something to worry a lot about, but it is just the timing of it that has been troublesome for him.
"I've had a little history of sides and calves, they are probably the two things that have kept me out for the majority of the last four years, but I [can] sort of just keep adding another layer to the defence hopefully.
"I've ticked a lot of boxes in the last 12 months and it's just the timing again - they are only little two or three-week injuries, it's just the timing of it and missing big games so that's probably the frustrating thing,” he said.
