The contributions of David Warner, Adam Zampa and Mitchell Marsh aside, pacer Josh Hazlewood’s near-flawless accuracy and ability to strike consistently in crucial phases of the game over the past few weeks was massive in Australia’s road to their maiden T20 World Cup title.
Finishing with the most number of wickets (seven) in the Powerplay of this World Cup, Hazlewood’s spell too was one of the big factors that played a role in pegging the Black Caps back in the summit clash.
It all began from the second leg of this year’s IPL, which was also held in the UAE, when Hazlewood made good use of the opportunities given to him by eventual champions Chennai Super Kings due to the injury of England all-rounder Sam Curran.
Importantly, Hazlewood backed himself to keep bowling the Australian length, which is a bit fuller, and executed it well enough that earned him success despite UAE conditions not being ideal for fast bowlers.
He also kept varying his pace throughout, both during the Powerplay as well as at the death. His performance just goes on to show how well Hazlewood mastered the conditions for which his IPL experience surely deserves some credit.
“Yeah, Josh was really important in our bowling group. He shared his experience with CSK, which was really important,” skipper Aaron Finch said at the post-match media conference late on Sunday.
“To be able to bowl particularly towards the end of the tournament when the wickets started to get more worn with the hard length, which is Josh’s speciality, I guess that was tough to hit.”
Besides, for a bowler to make a comeback in the T20I scheme of things after more than four-and-a-half years and then come up with such an impressive, consistent showing, the effort is nothing short of monumental. Precisely, before his comeback T20I in Southampton versus England in September 2020, Hazlewood featured in just three matches with all of them being part of the 2016 World T20.
Preferred over Kane
Precisely, it were Hazlewood’s performances in the IPL that helped him to force his way into the Australian XI over fellow quick Kane Richardson. “Honestly, his performances in the IPL probably forced his way into our starting XI over Kane Richardson, who’s also a wonderful T20 bowler and someone who has been so important for us.
“But yeah, that was a tough call,” Finch stated.
Bubble fatigue
The bubble fatigue couldn’t really trouble the Aussies, who played comparatively fewer number of matches than other teams since the outbreak of the pandemic. Having said that, they have been helped to a fair extent by team psychologist Peter Clarke, who has spent a considerable amount of time with the players in the bio-bubble instead of just giving advice from his office.
Clarke stressed on the need to focus on stuff such as introspective learning and team bonding. The players have had rounds of table tennis as well as a game of pool in which he also took part sometimes, and those were integral parts of their bubble life.
“In this situation, where everyone talks about bubble, these guys had so much fun on and off the ground,” head coach Justin Langer said. “In the game of cricket, it’s important to have fun and enjoy, and the guys have done that. I think it was a really important part of our success here.”
