Canberra: Australia quick Josh Hazlewood is ready to slip into the Test team's pace attack, according to the country's most successful fast bowler, Glenn McGrath. The former Test and ODI spearhead's comments came in the wake of Hazlewood's strong showing in the first three ODIs against South Africa, including a maiden five-wicket haul in the narrow loss at the WACA last week.
"He's ready to be called up," McGrath, Test cricket's leading fast bowler with a record 563 wickets, told reporters. "He had a bit of a sniff at international cricket in the past but got injured. He's come back and looks a lot stronger now. He knows his game a lot better and talking to a few of the NSW guys they say he's bowling very well and getting good bounce on any track. His effort in this one-day series has been very good. His spell in the first match was so-so but after that he was great and if given the opportunity I think we'll see Josh is ready to go."
Hazlewood, 23, was called back into the ODI squad to face South Africa after a sizzling performance in Australia's domestic one-day competition where he was the second-highest wicket-taker. His form for New South Wales included a state record haul of 7/35 against South Australia, which forced the selectors to hand the youngster his first ODI chance since September 2013 in England.
Nine wickets in three matches at an average of 14.66 and economy of 4.50 were an impressive return for Hazlewood, who since he debuted for NSW in 2008 as a 17-year-old drew comparisons to McGeath. "There's been a lot of players who've been compared to me but I really don't know if it's a compliment or a cross to bear," said McGrath. "What Josh does well is he's tall, he hits good areas, gets good bounce and he's also a lot more thick-set and stronger than me when I first played [for Australia]. I guess, in that respect, bowling at that height, hitting the deck, getting good bounce and having pretty good control ... he gets it through at a pretty good pace ... he does everything right."
Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson looked primed to form the crux of Australia's Test bowling attack after Cricket Australia rested them from the round of Sheffield Shield matches that precede the Gabba opener.
Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey backed Siddle and Ryan Harris to team up with spearhead Johnson for the first Test against India starting December 4 in Brisbane - meaning that the trio that combined splendidly to win back the Ashes 5-0 as well as seal a famous 2-1 win in Australia after that would be back as one.
"If those three are fit and well, I would definitely go that way," Hussey told cricket.com.au."They won the Ashes five-nil, they went over to South Africa and won there - I think they deserve first crack at it this summer. They're a fantastic bowling group; they all strike up good partnerships and they're almost a team within the team really. They complement each other very well and if it was up to me, I'd certainly be selecting them."
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