Australia lose Hazlewood to injury ahead of T20 World Cup

Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup after failing to recover from hamstring and Achilles injuries, dealing another blow to Australia cricket team.

The 35-year-old fast bowler missed the entire Ashes series against England and has not featured in competitive cricket since November, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

Earlier this week, Cricket Australia said Hazlewood would miss the opening stages of the tournament, with Sean Abbott called up as cover.

However, Cricket Australia confirmed on Friday that Hazlewood had “run out of time” to regain full fitness ahead of the tournament, which gets underway on Saturday in India and Sri Lanka.

“We were hopeful Josh would be back to match fitness by the Super Eight stage,” selector Tony Dodemaide said. “But the latest indication is he is still some time away and accelerating his programme will carry too much risk.”

Dodemaide added that Australia would not name a replacement immediately. “We feel we are well covered for the initial games, so any later decisions will be made based on priority need at the time,” he said.

Australia enter the World Cup under pressure after a 3-0 defeat to Pakistan in a warm-up series and are without a win in their past five T20 internationals.

The setback follows the earlier loss of pace spearhead and Test captain Pat Cummins, who has been ruled out of the entire tournament as he continues to recover from a lower back injury. Ben Dwarshuis was named as his replacement.

Australia’s Group B matches will all be played in Sri Lanka. They open their campaign against Ireland in Colombo on February 11 and will also face co-hosts Sri Lanka, as well as Oman and Zimbabwe.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev