The spearhead of Australian Test bowling attack, Josh Hazlewood has admitted that he does not expect himself to find a place in the starting XI of the ICC World T-20 matches.
According to Hazlewood the Australian team management are likely to go with more all-rounders than an out-and-out bowler. In recent times, Hazlewood has fallen behind the ranks of James Faulkner and John Hastings as far as T20s are concerned.
With only one slot left in the pace department, Hazlewood fears Nathan Coulter-Nile will fill it up, with the tiny bit of batting advantage he possesses over Josh.
"They've probably already got their XI in the back of their mind. There are a couple of our guys who didn't bowl in the match, a couple of quicks who did quite well in South Africa. There's plenty of competition for every spot so well see what happens on Friday. It could be as simple as that. Depending on the wicket, it could really be one quick and a bunch of all-rounders who do play this format a lot of the time," said the right-arm quickie after the defeat against West Indies in the warm up game.
Though Hazlewood claimed a sparkling hat-trick against the Indies, he thinks its highly unlikely that he will make the cut for the final XI. Citing time as a factor he said since the tournament is short-spanned it is improbable that the team management would tinker with the line-up.
He added, "The one-day World Cup, it went a little bit longer, six weeks. If you get that first opportunity and take it in this one, we've got four games in pretty quick time. So I don't think there will be as much chopping and changing but in saying that it depends on the conditions at each ground."
Hazlewood has played in 5 T-20 Internationals and has taken 7 wickets, with the best being 4/30. But in his short career his economy rate is as high as 10.25. He had a forgettable outing in the last T20 International he played against South Africa, leaking 50 runs in his quota of 4 overs.
In a nutshell, it seems Hazlewood would be resigned to carrying the refreshments.
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