Josh Hazlewood "On Track" for T20 World Cup After Injury Rehab

Hazlewood said he has been working on his bowling, running, and strength training, and sounds pretty positive about getting back on track.

Hazlewood was ruled out of the Ashes with a hamstring strain and then picked up an Achilles problem during his rehab. He won't also feature in the latter stages of the ongoing Big Bash League BBL, where he is on the Sydney Sixers' supplementary list.

"Everything's going to plan. We took a few extra weeks once we couldn't make the Test matches. I had a couple of bowls off the half-run last week. Running's going well, all the strength stuff's going well so, yeah, on track," Josh Hazlewood said as per ESPNcricinfo.

Hazlewood reckons his back-to-back injuries this season are a case of "one thing goes, another resurfaces". He also said that managing his body has been a challenge, and that restarting after a break hasn't quite agreed with him.

"Sometimes, when one thing goes, and the other thing resurfaces," Hazlewood said of the back-to-back injuries this season. "But it [the ankle] was probably another thing I'd been just managing over the last few years, and then it just creeps up. I guess when you start back up, sometimes your body doesn't like that stopping and getting it going [again]. So probably not as much of a dive into these two little niggles."

Hazlewood has been named in Australia's T20 World Cup squad, subject to clearing fitness tests. With Mitchell Starc calling time on his T20I career, Hazlewood is one of the seamers to lead the pace-bowling effort for Australia alongside Pat Cummins.

The T20 World Cup will begin on February 7. Australia's campaign begins on February 11 2026, against Ireland in Colombo, followed by an encounter against Zimbabwe on February 13.

- ANI