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Pacer Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the second Ashes Test at Brisbane, a pink-ball contest, but the team management is optimistic he could play a role later in the series, while skipper Pat Cummins is likely to make a return at The Gabba from next week.
The second Test will kick off on December 29. Hazlewood was ruled out of the Perth opener due to a hamstring issue suffered during the Sheffield Shield. He will join the squad in Brisbane to continue his rehab, and head coach Andrew McDonald expects him to be available later in the series. "He (Hazlewood) is working through the first week of his rehab," McDonald said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "I am not sure that we need to give an update on that. Once he gets further down the track and we have some rough timelines, then we will be in a position to communicate that." "I know that he will be available at some point during the series. We have got a little bit of that early rehab to go through to formulate where he may plug into the series, but we expect him to take some part in the series," he added. The two-day finish to the Perth Test has changed Cummins' bowling schedule. He had trained brilliantly at full throttle leading upto the series opener. He was supposed to bowl on the fourth day of the Test on Monday, but after travelling back to Sydney, it has been pushed back by a day. Regarding Cummins, McDonald said it would be a late call on whether he plays the Brisbane Test. If Cummins returns and plays the Brisbane Test and it goes through the entirety of five days, there would be an eight-day gap between the second and third Test at Adelaide. Cummins had previously stated that while back-to-back Tests in the series could be challenging for him, short matches could work in his favour. "Once we see him again, we will be able to then join the dots as to what that potentially looks like," McDonald said. "But for those who saw him in Perth, I did say this a while back that he will be up and bowling...and people will be sitting there questioning why he's not playing." "It looked like a player who was nearing the completion of his rehabilitation. The intensity was there, the ball speed was there. There are a lot of positives, but now it is just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we are not putting him in harm's way in terms of accelerating it too much." "But it will be a genuine discussion leading into this Test match. That one may even turn out late for us. A little bit to work through, but it (Cummins' return programme) is nearing completion, which is really, really positive," he concluded. (ANI)
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