Australia received a timely lift ahead of the day-night second Ashes Test against England next week as key members of their bowling attack stepped up their return to full fitness.
Injured pace spearheads Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins both bowled in the nets on Tuesday. Hazlewood had not been seen since tweaking his hamstring in a Sheffield Shield clash six days before the opening Test in Perth.
The choice of balls they used was telling, with Cummins steaming in with a pink ball and Hazlewood more reserved with a red one.
While Hazlewood remains a major doubt for the Brisbane Test on 4 December, Cummins said over the weekend he was “half a chance” after an impressive stint in the nets in Perth.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald told reporters no decisions would be made until closer to match day.
“I know that he’ll be available at some point during the series,” McDonald said of Hazlewood. “We’ve 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 was more upbeat about Cummins.
“There’s a lot of positives, but now it’s just really building that resilience within the soft tissue and making sure that we’re not putting him in harm’s way in terms of accelerating it too much.”
– AFP
Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
