He calls himself the conservative one among the Sydney Sixers’ young and deadly pace trio but Josh Hazlewood has emerged as the wildcard in the pack and a candidate for a return to international cricket.
The form of Hazlewood and fellow Australian representative pacemen Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins has been a key factor in the Sixers’ charge to a Champions League semi-final clash with the Titans in Centurion, South Africa early Saturday (AEDT).
Starc, 22, is the competition’s leading wicket taker with 11, teenager Cummins has troubled batsmen with his pure pace but 21-year-old Hazlewood is up among the tournament’s most economical bowlers, conceding a miserly 4.5 runs an over with his back of a length bowling all but impossible to attack.
“Mitch is a lefthander and Pat just tries to run in and bowl fast, but I’m the sort of the conservative one I guess,” Hazlewood told AAP.
“But we are all different and we all feed off each other and definitely as a unit we love playing together.”
While Starc and Cummins are further up the Australian selectors’ pace pecking order after appearing at the recent World T20 tournament, Hazlewood was actually the first of the three to represent his country at senior level before injury intervened.
He took 1-41 off seven overs in a one-day international in June 2010 against England.
“I had a taste of international cricket, and it was a great occasion to play over in England against the Poms,” Hazlewood said.
“I really enjoyed it and hopefully there will be more international cricket to come.”
A back issue forced him off a Test tour of India in late 2010 and injuries have been largely responsible for limiting him to just 13 first-class games in four and a bit seasons of senior cricket.
But Hazlewood is optimistic his body will stand up to a full summer of work after undergoing a new pre-season regime with NSW.
He said there had been more emphasis on running and less on lifting weights.
“It’s still going to take a lot to harden the body up to get through that full season of domestic first-class cricket.
“Hopefully this year I can do it, whether I rest a couple of games here and there to stay on the park, or whether I play them all.
“The signs are good so far.”
Hazlewood singled out Proteas’ Test batsman Jacques Rudolph as a key target for the Sixers in their semi-final clash with South Africa’s Titans.
Rudolph heads the tournament run scoring list with 171 at an average of 85.50 and a strike rate of 123.02.
“He’s probably one they bat around and he looks to bat the 20 overs and get 60, 70 not out,” Hazlewood said.
“They sort of feed off him and the other end can go a bit harder if he’s there just knocking them around.
“He’s probably one we can target and try to get out pretty early.”
