Ashes 2023: Josh Hazlewood returns to Australia's playing XI for Edgbaston Test, replaces Mitchell Starc

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood returned to the playing XI in some fashion, taking the wicket of England batter Zak Crawley on Day 1 of the first Ashes Test in Birmingham’s Edgbaston on Friday.

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After playing turning up for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in just three matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Hazlewood suffered an Achilles injury that eventually ruled him out of the rest of the tournament. Hazlewood also missed the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against India recently, which Australia won in dominant fashion.

Ahead of the Ashes, the 32-year-old had expressed interest to play in at least three Tests of the five-match series.

While Michael Neser was named Hazlewood’s replacement for the WTC Final, it was Scott Boland who took his place in the XI, and took five wickets.

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On Friday, Hazlewood made his first Test appearance since featuring in ab home Test against South Africa in January this year. Hazlewood replaced Mitchell Starc in the playing XI for the first Ashes Test, and it was a “tough call” according to skipper Pat Cummins.

England had won the toss and opted to bat first. “We would have batted first as well. One change from last week. Mitchell Starc unfortunately misses out and Josh Hazlewood comes in. It was a tough call. Mitch was very impressive last week but it’s about mentality and a good headache to have,” the Australia skipper said at the toss.

“You assess week by week. We have a week’s time before the next Test but the next two are tightly scheduled. Managing the bowlers and the conditions come into play. Good preparation because we won the WTC. We didn’t play a warm-up game but good to get used to the conditions last week,” stated Cummins.

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England were 31/1 at the time of writing this report, with Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley batting.

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