Stopping short of making 5-0 whitewash predictions but otherwise comfortable with the comparison, the Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood heads into his first Ashes series knowing that whenever his name is mentioned, that of Glenn McGrath is rarely far behind.
Hazlewood, like England’s great tormentor of series past, is a 6ft 5in right-armer from the New South Wales countryside who made the move to Sydney as a teenager to follow his dream of wearing the Baggy Green. Now at 24, despite having just five Test caps to his name, he could be Michael Clarke’s most potent weapon when hostilities get under way in Cardiff on Wednesday.
“It’s a great compliment whenever I read my name anywhere near Glenn’s,” said Hazlewood, who bowled 13 economical but wicketless overs on his first outing of the tour, on day two of Australia’s second warm-up match at Chelmsford against Essex.
“It’s not a burden at all. Glenn’s the best quick Australia has ever had so to be compared to him is pretty exciting,” he added. The connection does not stop there, with Hazlewood having worked under his idol at the MRF Pace Foundation in 2013, a bowling clinic for aspiring quicks in Chennai, India, that boasts Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee among its overseas alumni. It seems the method by which McGrath was able to claim 157 wickets in 30 Ashes Tests has now been firmly passed on.
“I’d like to work with him more but in the sessions we’ve had it was pretty simple,” he added. “Hit that spot that the batsman don’t want you to hit, swing it a bit each way and with the odd bouncer. Glenn didn’t have much more to say than that and it is a pretty simple game plan – it’s just about doing it over and over again.”
Hazlewood is certainly the form fast bowler in the tourists’ attack, arriving in this country from the Caribbean where he picked up a man-of-the-series award for his 12 wickets in two Tests on pitches, as England’s seamers will testify, that do little to encourage their ilk these days. Now, with the prominent seam of the Dukes ball to work with, he is really interested.
“I’ve heard from others it is suited to these conditions,” he said. “The last couple of weeks I’ve really enjoyed bowling on the English pitches in practice. The ball has swung around. The wickets are a bit slower and most the time I’m trying to hit a length that’s a touch fuller than Australia just to get the maximum swing and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.”
Is he prepared, in the spirit of McGrath’s 19 dismissals of Mike Atherton, to single out the England captain, Alastair Cook, as the wicket he is targeting above all others this summer? “There’s a couple of key wickets,” he replied. “Joe Root is in outstanding form at the moment and Cook is always very important to get on top of early in each innings. Cook is obviously back in the runs recently. I’ll be talking to our senior bowlers for as much information as I can [about him]. I think full is the length to most of the English batsmen – they sit back and play it late – to try and see as much swing as they can.”
