Brisbane: Australian captain Pat Cummins on Friday announced that pacer Josh Hazlewood will replace Scott Boland in his playing XI for the third Test against India after having recovered from a side strain.
The injury had forced Hazlewood to sit out of the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide last week. Cummins exuded confidence that Hazlewood would pull through the match without any “hiccups”.
“He had a really good bowl yesterday, he had another bowl in Adelaide a couple of days previously. Him and the medical team are really confident,” he said on the eve of the game at the Gabba.
Cummins said he had to take the ball away from Hazlewood at Perth to prevent his injury getting worse.
“We’ve seen it a few times where Josh has pushed through to get through a Test match and a little bit of soreness turns into a month or two of injury.
“So, we made the call then that it probably wasn’t worth the risk of keeping him bowling. I think he bowled an extra two overs leading into tea break and he said it felt ok, but I just kind of thought from there, ‘that’s enough’,” said Cummins.
The Australian captain was sympathetic for Boland after the veteran pacer made a stirring return to Test cricket at Adelaide after last year’s Ashes.
Boland had a match-haul of five wickets that included the prized scalp of star India batter Virat Kohli in the second innings.
“It’s tough. He was fantastic in Adelaide. Unfortunately, he’s spent quite a bit of time on the bench over the last 18 months and whenever he plays he’s fantastic.
“It’s a shame for Scotty, but still a fair bit to play out this series. I’d be surprised if he didn’t play again in this series,” said the New South Wales player.
Green is fading at Gabba
The green tinge on the Brisbane deck was significantly reduced on the match eve.
Once a fortress of the Aussies, India had breached the ‘Gabba’ barrier during the 2020-21 series to end the hosts’ winning run dating back to 1988.
After that the West Indies too beat Australia here, riding on the back of pacer Shamar Joseph’s heroics.
“I looked at it yesterday – it looked like a good wicket, like it has been the last few years,” said Cummins.
“A bit of sun baking it the last couple of days (means) I don’t think it’s as green and leafy as it was against South Africa,” he said.
Cummins was referring to the Test against South Africa here in 2022 which ended inside two days.
The 31-year-old also did not read too much into that recent vulnerability of his side in Brisbane.
“It’s just a venue really. We play at dozens and dozens of venues each year. It’s always good coming back to a place that’s familiar … but the scoreboard starts at 0-0, so the venue isn’t the be-all and end-all,” he added.
