Josh Hazlewood is a member of Australia’s fearsome pace bowling attack, which has tormented international teams in recent years. Hazlewood has been a nightmare for opening batsmen in Tests, with his uncanny ability to bring the ball in and out. For his languid run-up and action, the pacer has been compared to his countryman and former cricketer Glenn McGrath.
Hazlewood is the first fast bowler to represent New South Wales at the age of 17, and the youngest player to debut for Australia at the age of 19. At his high school, Hazlewood excelled in a variety of activities. His favourite sports included javelin throwing, shotput, discus throwing, and cricket. Josh Hazlewood’s father’s friends allegedly bet Aus$100 (US$82) on him being a Test player before the age of 30 with British bookmakers nearly 11 years ago at odds of 500-1. The gamble paid off handsomely, and when Hazlewood made his debut in 2014, his father’s friends each won Aus$50,000, a return of 500 times the original bet.
Career
Domestic
Josh made a name for himself in the domestic circuits when, at the age of 17, he became the youngest player to play for New South Wales. He also represented Australia in the U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in the same year. He continues to play for the same state in the Sheffield Shield, where he has 334 wickets at an average of 24.56 in 89 FC matches.
IPL Career
Last December, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) purchased Josh Hazlewood for INR 2 crore at the player auction.
Interestingly, the New South Wales native first caught the attention of IPL scouts in 2014, when he was selected by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the league’s seventh edition, but he did not play a game. Hazlewood has the big-game experience and temperament necessary to make an impact in the majors. He is expected to see a turnaround in his T20 career under MS Dhoni’s guidance.
International Career
Hazlewood made his international debut against England in an ODI at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on June 22, 2010. In their 50 overs, the visitors batted first and scored 267/7. As England chased down the target with 4 overs to spare, Josh took the wicket of Craig Kieswetter.
The Australian pacer’s exclusion from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is undoubtedly a low point in his brief career. Before the official squad was announced, he was named in the Australian squad by a few cricket pundits and former cricketers.
Josh Hazlewood made his T20I debut three years after making his ODI debut against West Indies at the Gabba in Brisbane. Despite getting Chris Gayle, the world’s best batsman, out for a meagre 8, West Indies still managed to set a target of 192. The Australian batsmen were not up to par on the day, and the match was lost by 27 runs. Josh Hazlewood was also selected to Australia’s T20 World Cup team, but he only played two games. He has been out of the shortest format of the game due to poor form and injuries, but he was given a new lease on life when he was picked for the limited overs team to tour England after COVID-19.
Josh Hazlewood made his Test debut against India at the Gabba on December 17, 2014. In the first innings, he had a five-wicket haul, limiting the Indians to 408. Australia tallied 505 in their first innings, and Hazlewood hit two more sixes in the second. With four wickets in hand, the home side reached the 128-run target. After an excellent Test debut, the youngster drew a lot of attention. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara (twice), and MS Dhoni have all been dismissed by him (twice).In a 51-run stand with Mitchell Starc for the last wicket, he also scored an unbeaten 32 off just 50 balls. His match percentage was 7/142. Since then, he’s managed to dazzle in the longer style.
Hazlewood continued to shine during the 2017-18 Ashes campaign, which saw Australia reclaim the urn following a five-year absence. In Australia’s 4-0 win, he took 21 wickets.
Josh made the team for the 2019 Ashes tour of England after suffering two stress fractures in his back in the last year – an accident that crippled him as a young tearaway. He was dropped after the first Test, but he bounced back in the second, taking three wickets in two innings as the match was drawn. Hazlewood came to the party in the third Test, taking 9 English wickets, but England saved the match thanks to Ben Stoke’s heroics. Hazlewood took 8 wickets in the next two Tests as Australia held the urn with a record of 2-2.