He took seven wickets in the first Test against Bangladesh in Darwin, his first match in the format for more than a year, and again bowled impressively in Mackay although only claimed one wicket in the quickfire two-day contest.
“I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can [within] reason,” Hazlewood told reporters at the launch of Play Cricket Week in Sydney. “We’ve got two ODI series before that Test match series, so it might be playing two out of three in both of those. I think once you’re at that intensity, which we’re all at now, [it] is trying to maintain that as best we can
“I’m very pleased with where I’m at physically, [I’ve] done a lot of work, probably the 10 weeks leading into that series, it was probably our last big training block before what’s to come. Very pleased to come out the other side pretty much unscathed.”
“We don’t know exactly how bad the hamstring is,” Hazlewood said. “He seems to recover from any sort of niggle pretty quickly. He’s an unbelievable athlete. So I guess we don’t think about it too much this far out. Things will become clearer as we get closer. But I’m sure the batters will rather face someone else than KG.”
“[I’m] actually ahead of schedule,” Neser said after signing a new two-year BBL deal with Brisbane Heat. “I had another scan and results came back very good, so I’m progressing quite nicely.
“South Africa is still on the cards and still what I’m aiming for. Obviously, it hasn’t been picked yet, but if all goes well with rehab and everything, I’ll be fit and ready for that.”
While Neser is unlikely to be a first-choice starter in South Africa, even if Australia opt for an all-pace attack at any of the venues, he would provide valuable back up to the big three and Scott Boland. He took 15 wickets at 19.93 in last season’s Ashes.
