"We’ve seen Jimmy Anderson do that sort of stuff" - Josh Hazlewood on Australia's bowling quartet prioritizing Test cricket over other formats

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood suggested Test cricket as the priority for their bowling quartet of himself, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon. He cited the example of England legend James Anderon, who continues to play only the red-ball format at 41.

One wicket short of joining the other three with 250 Test wickets, Hazlewood felt it would be surreal if the quartet could each scale the 300-wicket mark.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Hazlewood wished for each of the four bowlers to continue playing Tests for at least another two years, if not longer.

"We’ve seen Jimmy Anderson do that sort of stuff. Starcy bowls a little bit differently to Patty and me. He’s all guns blazing most of the time, but if we could all get 300 [wickets], that’d be unreal. It’d be great if we could play forever, but if we could play a couple more years … what we know about training and workload management now we might be able to hand on longer. I just really enjoy the format and I know the other boys do as well. You try to hang onto Test cricket as long as possible," said Hazlewood.

Injuries have limited Hazlewood's participation in Tests over the last two summers, and the 33-year-old made a tongue-in-cheek remark about skipper Pat Cummins leapfrogging him in the wickets column.

“The last 50 [wickets] have probably taken a while. It feels like I got 200 a while ago and then obviously there’s been a few injuries the last few years. It will be pretty special, the last one of the four guys to do it. ‘Cummo’ has been coming up in the rearview mirror pretty quickly the last few years and has gone straight past me with three five-fors [five-wicket hauls] on the bounce," stated Hazlewood.

While Lyon leads the pack with a remarkable 509 wickets, Starc is second with 345 scalps.

Thanks to his 19 wickets in the recent 3-0 series win against Pakistan, Cummins overtook Hazlewood (249) to 258 wickets. Should Hazlewood pick up one more wicket, their quartet will become the first to all reach at least 250 wickets while still playing together.

Australia will take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series, starting in Adelaide on January 17.

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"The middle format [50-over cricket], I would probably jump out of first" - Josh Hazlewood

Australia recently celebrated their sixth ODI World Cup title.

Josh Hazlewood admitted the 50-over format would be the one he and most likely the other Australian pacers would walk away from first. While Nathan Lyon has not been a regular in the 50-over side, Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood have been rested for the upcoming West Indies ODIs.

The Pace trio recently helped Australia win their sixth ODI World Cup title, defeating India in the finale by six wickets.

"I feel like probably the middle format [50-over cricket], I would probably jump out of first, and I think the boys are pretty similar. I feel like one-day cricket works really well when it’s in a tournament, like a Champions Trophy or a World Cup. It really works well, as we saw in India [in the recent World Cup that Australia won]. But I just think that if it’s a bilateral series it can sometimes feel like, not meaningless, but OK, we’re going do another series here, another there," said Hazlewood.

He added:

"But Twenty20 is always good fun, it’s really enjoyable to play. Obviously there’s the franchise stuff down the track when you finish everything else potentially, but if when I finish up playing Test cricket for Australia, I think that will be it for every format."

Hazlewood was also integral to Australia's 2015 World Cup triumph at home and the 2021 T20 World Cup.

The champion bowler was the star bowler in the summit clash of the latter, with figures of 3/16 in four overs against New Zealand.