Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood is a part of the fearsome pace bowling battery of Australia that has tormented the world sides over the last few years. With an uncanny ability to bring the ball both in and out, Hazlewood has been a nightmare for the opening batsmen in Tests. The pacer is compared to his countryman and former cricketer Glenn McGrath for his languid run-up and action.

Josh Hazlewood Along the Years

Josh Hazelwood Career

Josh Hazlewood became a key player in Australia's Test team soon after his debut in December 2014. His selection was long anticipated due to his early promise despite being only 23 years old. He made his debut for New South Wales at the age of 17 which made him the youngest pacer selected by New South Wales, he played his first ODI at the age of 19.

Hazlewood's progress was hampered by injuries, including a stress fracture that delayed his Test debut until 2014. After joining the team, he quickly started drawing comparisons to his idol Glenn McGrath. He completed 100 test wickets in 46 innings, one more than McGrath himself.

Hazlewood was made vice-captain of the Test team after the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal. Hazlewood was part of Australia's 2021 T20 World Cup winning team and 2023 ODI victory. Despite injuries, he regained top form towards the end of 2023-24 and Excelled in Test cricket during the season.

Josh Hazelwood Domestic Career

Josh made his name in domestic circuits by becoming the youngest player to make his debut for New South Wales at the age of 17. In the same year, he also represented Australia in the U19 Cricket World Cup 2008. He continues to play for the same state in the Sheffield Shield and has played 89 FC matches and taken 334 wickets at an average of 24.56.

Josh Hazelwood IPL and other franchise Career

Josh Hazlewood was picked by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for INR 2 crore in the player auction in the IPL 2020.

Interestingly, the New South Wales native had caught the eye of IPL scouts way back in 2014 when he was picked by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the seventh edition of the league but unfortunately, he didn't play a game. Hazlewood certainly has the big-game experience and temperament required to make a splash in the big leagues. 

Hazlewood stayed with Chennai Super Kings for 2 years where he played 12 matches and took 12 wickets. In 2022, Hazlewood joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 7.75 crore, and giving the best performance of his IPL career, he took 20 wickets in 12 games of the 2022 season. 

Even in the 2023 IPL, Hazlewood was seen playing three matches for Bengaluru in which he took three wickets.

Along with IPL Hazlewood has been seen playing with Sydney Sixers in Big Bash League.

Josh Hazelwood International Career

Josh Hazlewood made his international debut in 2010 against England in the ODI format at the age of 19. After playing his first international match in 2010, Josh Hazlewood had to wait for almost 2 years to play his next international match when he made his debut in the T20 format in February 2013 against West Indies.

The very next year, in December 2014, Hazlewood made his Test debut against India. Soon after his Test debut, Josh Hazlewood developed into a key bowler for the Australian team in all three formats and soon completed his 100 test wickets. In 2018, Josh Hazlewood was also appointed the vice-captain of the Australian Test team.

Josh Hazelwood ODI Career

Hazlewood made his international debut in an ODI against England on 22 June 2010 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The visitors batted first and scored 267/7 in their 50 overs. Josh got the wicket of Craig Kieswetter as England chased down the target with 4 overs to spare.

Despite playing his first ODI in 2010, Josh Hazlewood had to wait for 2 years for his next match, but despite that, he did not get the place in the team that he deserved. Josh Hazlewood has been in and out of the ODI team for a long time, but recently he has been seen in Australia's ODI team on almost all occasions.

Despite having world-famous bowlers like Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, Josh has made his place in the Australian team and continues to perform well. 

 In the recently held 2023 ICC World Cup, Josh Hazlewood missed playing only one match despite the presence of the main bowler of the team. He played a total of 11 matches in the tournament and played an important role in making his team victorious by taking 16 wickets.

Josh Hazelwood T20I Career

Josh Hazlewood's T20I debut came three years later after his ODI debut at the Gabba in Brisbane against West Indies. He got the Universe boss Chris Gayle out for a paltry score of 8, but West Indies still managed to set a target of 192. The Aussie batsmen weren’t up to the mark on the given day and lost the match by 27 runs. Josh Hazlewood was also named in Australia's squad for the 2016 T20 WC but only managed to play two games. Some indifferent form and injuries have kept him out of the shortest format of the game but he was given a new lease of life when he was selected for the limited overs side to tour England post-COVID-19.

Josh Hazlewood's first milestone in his T20 career came when he became the second-highest wicket-taker for Australia behind Adam Zampa in the 2021 T20I World Cup winning Campaign. Josh played a total of seven matches in the tournament and took 11 wickets. Due to his brilliant performance, the Australian team became the winner of the T20I World Cup for the first time.

After his performance in the T20I World Cup, he was seen in Australia's T20I team on almost every occasion. 

Josh Hazlewood was once again included in the team for the T20I World Cup in 2022, in which his performance was decent where he took a total of 5 wickets in four matches at an average of 8.27. 

After that event, Josh Hazlewood's T20I form declined significantly, after which he has been seen struggling in this format. In the recent T20 World Cup, he has taken a total of four wickets in 6 matches.

Josh Hazelwood Test Career

Josh Hazlewood made his Test debut on 17 December 2014 against India at the Gabba. He got a five-wicket haul in the first innings that restricted the Indians to 408. Australia scored 505 in their first innings and Hazlewood struck twice in the second innings as well. The home side completed the 128-run target with 4 wickets in hand. The youngster turned heads after his impressive Test debut. He picked up the wickets of stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara (twice) and MS Dhoni (twice). He also scored an unbeaten 32 off just 50 balls in a 51-run partnership with Mitchell Starc for the last wicket. His match figures were 7/142. He has continued to impress in the longest format since then.

Hazlewood further shone in the 2017-18 Ashes campaign at home as the Aussies regained the urn after five years. He claimed 21 wickets in Australia's 4-0 victory.

Despite having two stress fractures in his back in the last twelve months – an injury that crippled him as a teen tearaway, Josh made it to the squad for the 2019 Ashes tour to England. He was dropped in the first Test but made a decent comeback in the second Test, taking 3 wickets in the two innings as the match was drawn. In the third Test, Hazlewood came to the party and took 9 English wickets in the match but England won the match, courtesy of Ben Stoke's heroics. In the next two Tests, Hazlewood took 8 wickets as Australia retained the urn with a scoreline reading 2-2.

The year 2019 was the last year for Josh Hazlewood when he got 30 or more wickets in this format, after that Hazlewood was not seen playing much of the match. 

On one hand, Josh Hazlewood took 33 wickets in 8 matches in 2019, but he played a total of 7 matches in the next 3 years and took only 22 wickets. In 2023, Hazel Wood once again made a brilliant comeback and took 27 wickets in seven matches at an average of 3.53.

In 2023, his best performance once again came in the Ashes series where he took 16 wickets in four games in which he also had a five-wicket haul. 

Even in 2024, Josh Hazlewood's performance has been good so far where he has taken 29 wickets in five matches, in which his best performance was 14 wickets in four innings of two matches against West Indies.

Josh Hazlewood Under-19 Career

In his younger days, Josh Hazlewood has also participated in Australia's Under-19 team. He has played a total of four matches for Australia in the 2008 ICC Under-19 World Cup campaign and has taken 6 wickets.

Background

At the age of 17, Hazlewood became the youngest fast bowler to represent New South Wales, while at 19; he became the youngest player to debut for Australia. Hazlewood excelled at several sports at his school. Javelin Throw, Shotput, Discus Throw, and Cricket were “a few” of his favorite sports. Friends of Hazlewood’s dad reportedly placed an Aus$100 (US$82) wager with British bookmakers almost 11 years ago at odds of 500-1 that Josh would become a Test player before the age of 30. The bet paid off well, and in 2014, with Hazlewood’s debut, his dad’s friends won Aus$50,000 each, a return 500 times the initial bet.