If Josh Hazlewood is happy that the pressure he has applied on England’s top order has helped force the hosts into a change in batting order for the upcoming Test at Old Trafford, then his words about what that change represents apply equally to Australia given the sorts of adjustments being pondered by the touring side.
It is plausible that Australia may make as many as four changes to their team from the XI that took the field in Leeds, recalling the fit-again Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh and also including Mitchell Starc – Peter Siddle is also in contention for a return. Such a shift would certainly outstrip England’s shuffle of Joe Denly up the top and Jason Roy to No. 4, raising questions about exactly which team is better-placed entering the penultimate Test of an absorbing series.
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Having got so infuriatingly close to retaining the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001, the Australians have been confronted with the dilemma of balancing introspection about Headingley and Ben Stokes with the fact that their plans so far for this series had taken them to the very brink of victory.
In that sense, Australia’s situation heading into the fourth Test bears the essence of the British General Bernard Montgomery’s remark that operation Market Garden, a failed attempt to capture a series of bridges into Germany to shorten the Second World War, was “90% successful” because every bridge but the last one, over the Rhine at Arnhem, was taken. Hazlewood noted that while Australia’s bowlers had been “90-95%” successful, there was plenty about the remaining 10% that needed work.
“Whenever the other team are changing plans [it] means you’re doing something right,” Hazlewood said. “Whoever is at the top, whatever the order, it’s the same plans, what we’ve talked about before, keeping it simple, patient, disciplined.
“It certainly feels like I’m bowling well. Ever since I bowled at Worcester a few weeks back, I took it into Lord’s and Headingley. I think I’m not trying to do too much, try and be very simple, not try and swing the ball, occasionally I do when it gets a bit older but just hitting that right length with the new ball, making them play, not try and do too much, try and keep it simple. Dry that scoreboard up, build pressure with maidens, make him play on the front foot, not try and do too much as a whole group.”
“It’s a bit like one-day cricket: nice, soft ball, the wicket’s really good and we spread the field. It was extraordinary hitting.”
Hazlewood reflecting on the final phase of England’s chase in Headingley
Having been the dominant bowler of the Headingley Test, claiming nine wickets through a masterful combination of control, optimum pace and movement both ways, Hazlewood’s final over was to be thumped for 19 by Stokes. Weighing up how the final hour of the Test played out, he reckoned that better communication between the captain Tim Paine and the bowlers may have been useful.
“It can feel like it’s moving pretty quickly in those situations,” Hazlewood said. “The crowds are quite loud as well, it’s hard to hear people, we certainly could have taken our time a little bit more and communicated a little bit better with the field, the skipper and bowler. I thought we stayed pretty calm throughout it. Things happened pretty quickly at certain stages, good learning experience, hopefully better for it.
“We looked at it on the whole – a very good performance from our bowling group. We got beaten by a helluva player at the end. We’ve certainly talked about that, what we could have done differently with fields, different bowling, more of a one-day game at the end, different ways to get Leach on strike to face a few more deliveries. We’ll hopefully do a bit better next time. We always sit down and discuss what happened and we could have done better and what we did well as well.
“That’s important to discuss what we did well: 90-95% of that game we bowled really well. So don’t gloss over that either and obviously talk about what we could have done better. I bowled the one over in that hour, hour-and-a-half. It’s a bit like one-day cricket: nice, soft ball, the wicket’s really good and we spread the field. We probably could have changed a few things there. It was extraordinary hitting. I thought Nath [Lyon] was the best chance of getting a wicket or a catch somewhere, get Stokes out. There were a few big chances.”
Starc’s potential inclusion for one of the final two Ashes Tests, having worked assiduously on his economy and lengths over the course of this tour so far, would add a more destructive edge to the Australian attack when it comes to yorkers and knocking over the tail. His scorcher to tunnel under the bat of Stokes at Lord’s during the World Cup will be remembered ruefully by Australians present at Headingley, and Hazlewood said Starc’s ability to blast out tail-enders had now been augmented by greater control and also a constructive attitude to being left out.
“You come to expect that these days. He bowled really well with the new ball as well,” Hazlewood said. “He hit some really good lengths, found some swing. The pace looked up there throughout the whole game, he looks fit and firing. That’s where we want to get to as a squad, I think, have those six [bowlers in the squad] all firing, even Michael Neser bowling really well this game keeps pressure on you as a player in the team. It’s always good, healthy competition.
“He [Starc] has worked really hard on a lot of things in the nets and we’ve seen it in this game as well. I think it’s how hard the guys work off the field, the 6-7 [in the squad] who aren’t playing. That’s a great measure of how the group’s going. That they are putting pressure on the guys who are playing. That can make the difference. They can easily mope around. It’s a long tour. They’re buzzing around, and working on their games, and it’s great.”