Josh Hazlewood ruled out of remainder of the Ashes in injury blow to Australian attack

1 hours agoTue 9 Dec 2025 at 1:02am

Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Hazlewood will miss the rest of the Ashes, while Lyon and Cummins are expected to play in Adelaide. (AAP: Dean Lewins)

In short:

Josh Hazlewood will miss the entire Ashes series after a fresh Achilles issue cropped up last week.

Australia had hoped Hazlewood would play some part in the final three Tests after missing the first two.

What’s next?

Pat Cummins is expected to return for the December 17 Adelaide Test, with Nathan Lyon also expected to play.

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series amid hamstring and Achilles tendon injuries.

Injuries have thwarted the reliable right-arm quick in recent years and had forced him to watch from afar as Australia took a 2-0 series lead at the Gabba last week.

Hazlewood had been expected to play some part in the summer until a fresh Achilles issue clouded his availability last week and prevented him from reuniting with the squad in Brisbane.

Coach Andrew McDonald today confirmed he would miss the remainder of the series.

"He will be out of the series and his preparation will then shift towards the [2026 T20] World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us but unfortunately, Josh won’t be a part of the Ashes," McDonald said.

"It’s really flat for him. A couple of setbacks we didn’t see coming. We thought he’d play a huge part in the series. We really feel for him that he won’t get that opportunity."

It comes after Hazlewood missed the entire Test tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year and played only two of a possible five Tests in last summer’s home series against India.

Hazlewood’s absence will likely mean Scott Boland, or possibly Michael Neser, keeps his spot in the XI for the third Test and beyond.

Boland has been the leading understudy for the pace-bowling cartel in recent years but Neser is coming off a five-wicket haul that helped secure victory at the Gabba.

McDonald flagged captain Pat Cummins’ return from a back injury is likely to be the only change to Australia’s squad for Adelaide, with Brendan Doggett expected to make way.

Confirmation of the 15-player squad is expected on Wednesday, with batter Usman Khawaja set to feature on return from his back injury.

Despite Mitchell Starc’s heavy workloads with bat and ball, Australia is expected to play a full-strength bowling attack given a chance to secure a series victory.

Players will have had nine full days off in between the end of the Gabba Test and the toss in Adelaide.

"We wouldn’t be thinking about someone needing a rest there, it’s probably more so in Test match four and five," McDonald said.

McDonald says there’s nothing to patch up with Lyon

Nathan Lyon is expected to play a significant role in the attack after bowling only two overs in the first Test and being dropped for the second.

The veteran off-spinner has taken more Test wickets at Adelaide Oval than any other ground in world cricket.

"I’ll make this a headline: We still do value spin," said McDonald, after part-timer Travis Head bowled Australia’s only over of spin in Brisbane.

"That’s the first game Nathan’s missed in Australia for a long time. Has his impact been as great as previous seasons with the surfaces that we’re playing on? Potentially not.

"(But) I think Nathan’s going to have an incredibly huge impact in the last three Test matches if you look to what he did at the MCG last year.

"When the surface became benign day three onwards, he was able to navigate through a hole."

McDonald insisted there was nothing to patch up with Lyon, who told the Seven Network he was "absolutely filthy" about being dropped for the Gabba Test in favour of Neser.

"I don’t think ‘patch up’ are the right words, that’s probably a little bit of an overreaction," McDonald said.

"We just value different things in the pink-ball game and unfortunately that meant that Nathan had to squeeze (out), that’s nothing to do with his skill set.

"For him to be disappointed, I understand that, I get that. I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t disappointed."

AAP