Australia could go back to the future with new ball at Old Trafford

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Manchester: Australia’s captain Pat Cummins may elect to hand the new ball back to Josh Hazlewood as a better match-up for England’s openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, in what shapes as a potentially Ashes-deciding Test at Old Trafford.

Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc customarily share the new ball for Australia, but Cummins has been taking the first or second over recently – including at Edgbaston and Lord’s, when Hazlewood played – due to Hazlewood’s injury run.

Josh Hazlewood celebrates the prized scalp of England captain Ben Stokes at Lord’s.Credit: AP

However, the ability of Crawley and Duckett to make sturdy starts this series, even if neither opener has gone on to make a century yet, has the Australian team considering a switch back to Hazlewood for Manchester. Hazlewood excelled in the corresponding Test in 2019 when the tourists retained the Ashes.

Cummins’ natural angle in towards the right-hander has been exploited by Crawley in particular, allowing the tall opener to work the ball into the leg side in the early overs. Hazlewood, by contrast, delivers down much more of a stump-to-stump angle, and also enjoyed success against Duckett on the opening day of the series.

“They’re a dangerous line-up from start to finish,” Hazlewood said of England’s batting. “They all bat a little bit differently and we’ve learned quite a bit in the first three games and we’ll catch up again as bowlers and dissect that and the positives and negatives and how we can improve. We’ll suss it out.

“I’ve really enjoyed it, I think it’s a great challenge. When you’ve played cricket for a long time, you don’t get sick of the same old stuff, but it’s nice to see a new challenge and it’s probably brought the best out of a few of our guys.

“So it was exciting from the get-go, and we’ve maybe changed a little bit the way they’ve played, but if it’s a good wicket they’re coming hard and it’s sort of like a long one-day game.”

Were Hazlewood to take the new ball alongside Starc, Cummins would be able to resume the first change role in which he has been enormously threatening to opposition line-ups. Among other things, it may mean Cummins is fresher for the arrival of Joe Root at four in the batting order.

By dismissing Root 11 times in 18 innings, Cummins has a more productive return against the former England captain in terms of dismissal rate than Stuart Broad against David Warner, for all the publicity of the Australian opener’s struggles.

Broad has explained how he came to attack Warner from around the wicket with consistent success. “He used to sit back against me and hit me through the off side, and before the 2015 Ashes our bowling coach Ottis Gibson pointed out that my average was much higher against left-handers,” Broad wrote in The Daily Mail.

Josh Hazlewood at Lord’s.Credit: Reuters

“The Aussie team that season was full of lefties, and Ottis said I’d be out of the team if I didn’t find a way to bowl to them. I spent four months practising round the wicket. I wanted to bring the stumps into play, while still threatening the outside edge. By the time I got to Trent Bridge eight years ago I bowled round the wicket all the time – and picked up 8-15.

“The truth is I’ve always found it difficult bowling to Davey, and I still do. By going ’round the wicket I’ve tried to minimise the width he loves outside off stump, but also bowl a fuller length and make him play at 80 to 85 per cent of deliveries.”

Hazlewood said that his absence from the Headingley Test, where his place was taken by Scott Boland, should mean he has a chance to front up for each of the last two at Old Trafford and the Oval. Hazlewood played four of five Ashes Tests in each of the 2015 and 2019 tours.

“I felt pretty good going into the game [in Leeds],” he said. “It was probably the right call now I can sit back and look at the big picture. I was desperate to play, which is obvious. But now it makes sense.

“Missing Headingley is probably the reason to set me up for the last two games. I know they’re back-to-back but we haven’t bowled a lot of overs. Hopefully with that work behind me now, I’m in a better position than I was a month ago. That sort of puts me in a good place to hopefully get through those last two games.”

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