Categories: Sports

Australia’s fast-bowling injuries a reminder of the juggling act to come ahead of India Tests

Australia’s pace-bowling depth is often talked about, and for good reason, but right now it is being tested. The list of injuries and absentees around the limited-overs tour of the UK has become a lengthy one.

Xavier Bartlett was the latest to be ruled out after suffering a side strain in the first T20I against England. Nathan Ellis was scrubbed from the trip early in the Scotland leg after aggravating an injury sustained in the Hundred. Spencer Johnson (side) was ruled out before the tour began. Riley Meredith did not feature after first T20I in Scotland, also due to a side issue.

Josh Hazlewood had a delayed arrival because of a minor calf strain but bowled superbly in Southampton before being rested in Cardiff. As one of the big three, he is central to Australia’s plans for the five Tests against India in the home summer. All the cricket before that, especially for the fast bowlers, is played through the lens of making sure Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc make that series and can sustain throughout it.

“A lot of our priorities will be geared around that,” Andrew McDonald, Australia’s coach, told SEN last week. “You’ll see that unfold with the management of our players. We’ll be very pointed around who does what in terms of [Sheffield] Shield cricket coming into the summer to make sure that they are ready for that first Test match.”

While those who have picked up injuries in England would not be the next in line for Test spots, there are also question marks over the red-ball reserves. Lance Morris will be given a careful reintroduction to the Sheffield Shield after another off-season beset by back problems while his Western Australia team-mate Jhye Richardson remains a longer-term project in terms of red-ball cricket.

Scott Boland and Michael Neser have also nursed injuries in pre-season, with the former likely to be managed through the early rounds of the Sheffield Shield, although neither are considered major worries. Sean Abbott, whose first over in Cardiff on Friday would not have looked out of place in Test match as he nipped the ball around sharply, could come into the planning depending on the progress of others.

Starc will be part of the ODI series in England but will be carefully managed through the matches. Cummins has remained at home to work on strength and conditioning. It would be a surprise if Hazlewood played more than three of the one-dayers with the series taking place across just 11 days, although the washed out game in Manchester allowed for some extra downtime.

“There aren’t many breaks in the calendar unless you manufacture one,” Cummins said last month about missing the England tour. “The medical staff and coaches and everyone thought this is a good opportunity to have a month or so off bowling for my body, and then build up and hopefully be in as good a position as possible for the five Tests.”

Australia are far from alone in how they manage their valuable multi-format fast bowlers. India are careful with how much Jasprit Bumrah plays while Mohammed Shami’s recovery from an ankle injury is slightly behind schedule and may require careful management ahead of the Australia tour. For England, a major theme over the next year will be how they ensure Mark Wood reaches the 2025-26 Ashes after he recently suffered another elbow problem to rule him out of the upcoming Pakistan and New Zealand tours.

The lengthy list of injuries around Australia’s pace bowlers is a reminder both of the incredible resilience of Cummins, Starc and more recently Hazlewood but also that it would not take much for best-laid plans to unravel. Aided by none of the Tests going five days last season, they played throughout against Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand having also featured throughout the ODI World Cup, barring the one game Starc was rested for.

Cummins has missed just one Test through injury since 2018; the others have been due to Covid and compassionate leave. Starc missed three in a row against South Africa and India in early 2023 due to a finger injury and was left out of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, but has been almost as durable, often bowling through the pain of various injuries. Hazlewood, meanwhile, has emerged from a two-year period between 2021-2023 where he played just three Tests to keep himself on the park throughout except for being rested at Headingley in last year’s Ashes.

Cummins has already flagged things might be different against India, referencing the importance of Australia’s allrounders Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh, the latter who hasn’t bowled since the IPL. “The last couple of summers have been pretty light [with] quick Test matches,” he said. “I suspect this summer might be a bit different at time.”

Even the first reserve, Boland, who boasts a home Test average of 12.21, had expected an opening to emerge somewhere last season. “I was expecting to play at some stage,” he told cricket.com.au. “The coaches and selectors were saying, ‘You’ll probably get a go at some stage, so be ready’.

“It’s hard, especially when my mindset is ‘It’s seven Tests, I’ll get a crack at some stage’. But [the big three] are just so resilient and they kept bowling teams out quickly, that they just don’t need that much of a break.”

At the moment, the injuries have been a disappointment for those involved in the England tour, and a juggling action for the selectors to fill the gaps, rather than an imminent concern for the India series. But that much-vaunted depth in Australia’s bowling stocks may yet be face a defining summer.

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo

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