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Ashes 2015: Josh Hazlewood hungry for chance to hit England hard

Josh Hazlewood is hard-wired for Ashes victory.

Born on the day Australia retained the urn in 1991, the 24-year-old seamer grew up on a drip-feed of ‘Pommy-bashing’ watching England stagger from series to series against an attack led by his idol Glenn McGrath.

Now on his maiden Ashes tour, Hazlewood is thriving under the guidance of bowling coach Craig McDermott, who rampaged to 84 wickets in his 17 Tests against England between 1985-95.

Much – perhaps more - is expected of the 6ft 5in bowler, who has taken 24 wickets in his opening five Tests and was named Man of the Series in Australia’s recent 2-0 win over West Indies.

First, though, he must claim one of three likely seam spots in Australia’s XI for Wednesday’s first Test in Cardiff and the competition – Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris – is fierce for a bowler still finding his feet.

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Josh Hazlewood expects conditions in England to suit his game

Conversing

“I haven’t bowled too much, to be honest, with the Dukes ball in English conditions so I’ve really not only looked to him [McDermott] but to other senior members of the Ashes squad,” admitted Hazlewood.

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“Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle are great to have on tour for myself and Mitchell so we’ve all been conversing about different things.

“Probably one thing is getting the ball on a fuller length and keeping it swinging - working on how to shine it and how to get reverse swing and all that sort of stuff. Craig’s been awesome with that.

“I’ve really enjoyed bowling with the Dukes ball in training so far. The wickets are obviously a bit slower over here than in Australia but as long as the ball keeps swinging I’ll be happy.

“Our attack is a great mix of youth and experience. We’ve got older heads passing information down and I guess us keeping those older guys on their toes.

“We don’t really talk to each other much about it [selection]. We know five doesn’t go in to three and there’s going to be a couple of tough decisions made before that first Test.

“We obviously wish everyone in the group success and we’ll obviously work a lot together; we really enjoy it when other people bowl well.”

Outstanding

Hazlewood hit the ground running after stepping onto the Test stage some four-and-a-half years after making his one-day debut in England at the age of 19, taking 5-68 against India at Brisbane in December.

Image: Hazlewood takes the applause for his 5-38 against West Indies

“It was a great for me, getting that baggy green – to get it given to me by Glenn McGrath was an outstanding moment.

“The first day was unbelievably hot. I thought ‘I don’t think it could get any harder than this and if Test cricket’s going to be like this forever, it’s going to be hard work’.

“But I came back the next day and picked up five wickets so it was an outstanding Test for me and to get a win in my first Test made it a great week.”

A second five-for followed in June’s second Test against West Indies, Hazlewood returning Test best figures of 5-38 – form that justified his decision earlier in the year to withdraw from his IPL contract with the Mumbai Indians.

Tough

“Obviously, I enjoyed my time in the West Indies,” he said. “I thought we bowled well as a unit. We came up against them, I guess, when they’re not at their strongest but we got out of the tour what we needed and did the job.

“[Withdrawing from the IPL] was quite a tough decision at the time but looking back I think it probably paid dividends now. I came into the West Indies tour with a lot of red-ball bowling under my belt.

“As we saw in that first Test, it took a bit of time for the two lefties [Johnson and Starc] to get going in that different format coming from the IPL. So I think it was the right decision in the end.”

In the build-up to the first Test England skipper Alastair Cook and his Australian counterpart Michael Clarke have each expressed their hope that the series is played in the right spirit.

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Australia head coach Darren Lehmann went further ahead of his team’s warm-up game against Essex when he brought a sign to training saying this is a ‘sledge free tour’.

Hazlewood says he’s happy to have a chirp, he prefers to make the ball talk.

“It doesn’t really come into my game all that much,” he said. “I guess other guys like to do it to get them up and about and to maybe get under the skin of the batsmen.

“I sort of try to let my bowling do most of the talking with maybe a word here or there but there’s very little.”

Watch every ball of the first Investec Test live on our dedicated channel, Sky Sports Ashes, from 10am on Wednesday.

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