“Wouldn’t Be Surprised If Some Don’t Make It”: Josh Hazlewood On Australia’s Tour Of Pakistan

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has said that he would not be surprised if some of the players from his side don’t want to tour Pakistan for security concerns. Australia is expected to tour Pakistan in March and it would be the first time since 1998 that Australia would tour Pakistan.

“There’s a lot of things in place and there’s been a lot of work in the background by CA and the ACA. So the trust is quite high there from the players, but there’d certainly be some concerns from the players and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them don’t make the tour,” cricket.com.au quoted Hazlewood as saying.

“And that’s very fair. People will discuss it with their families… and come up with an answer and everyone respects that,” he added.

Australia’s tour of Pakistan will comprise three Tests, three ODIs, and one T20I. The Tests will take place in Karachi (March 3-7), Rawalpindi (March 12-16), and Lahore (March 21-25), while Lahore will be the venue for the four white-ball matches to be played from March 29 to April 5.

Hazlewood had missed the four Ashes Test because of a side strain and the pacer also opened up on how frustrating it was to sit on the sidelines.

“If I’d had a normal (side strain), a big injury and you know you’re going to be out, then you can deal with it all at once. But it just kept teasing, kept teasing, I might be able to play this one, I might be able to play that one,” said Hazlewood.

“I’ve certainly had a typical side strain, where you tear your oblique (muscle), you can’t bowl another ball and are out for at least six or seven weeks. This one was different… the strength came back really quickly, and I could do a lot of things in the gym. It was just bowling, that dynamic movement, that caused a bit of grief. It was an unusual one,” he added.

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When asked how he felt Australia winning the Ashes 4-0, the pacer said: “It was very frustrating. You probably don’t realize it as much now, but when you look back in 10 years … people will talk about the Ashes when they won 4-0 in 2021 … and it’d hit you again.”

“It was frustrating watching and obviously as time goes on, you’d be reminded of it more often than not. But that’s part of fast bowling, I guess,” he added.