CANBERRA: Australian pace bowler Josh Hazlewood said on Wednesday he would not be surprised if security fears prompt some players to opt-out of the upcoming Pakistan tour, as he eyes a comeback to the national team after recovering from injury.
Australia are scheduled to play three Tests, three One-Day Internationals and one T20 starting on March 3 in their first trip to Pakistan in 24 years.
A media report last week said some in the Australian camp were apprehensive about whether Pakistan would be safe.
Hazlewood said Cricket Australia’s reassurances had eased his concern.
“There’s a lot of things in place and there’s been a lot of work in the background […] so the trust is quite high there from the players,” Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.
“But there’d certainly be some concerns from the players and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them don’t make the tour.
“And that’s very fair. People will discuss it with their families […] and come up with an answer and everyone respects that.”
His comment comes days after the nation’s national selector dismissed the rumours of players indicating they want to opt-out of the tour.
George Bailey said he believed security plans were “very, very robust and very, very thorough” after multiple briefings for what would be the first Australia tour of Pakistan since Mark Taylor’s men visited in 1998.
“I believe the boards are still working through some of the minor details around that tour, so once that gets the formal tick of approval then we’ll announce the squad post that, but we’re reasonably well down the track,” cricket.com.au quoted Bailey as telling reporters.
Hazlewood, 31, part of a 16-man Australian squad for the five-match T20 home series against Sri Lanka starting on February 11, is raring to go after missing all but the first Test in the recent Ashes series.
Sidelined by a side strain after the first Test in Brisbane, he was forced to watch on as his team mates celebrated a 4-0 series shellacking.
It was a puzzling injury.
“I’ve certainly had a typical side strain, where you tear your oblique (muscle), you can’t bowl another ball and are out for at least six or seven weeks,” he said.
“This one was different […] the strength came back really quickly, and I could do a lot of things in the gym. It was just bowling, that dynamic movement, that caused a bit of grief. It was an unusual one.”
Long part of Australia’s three-pronged pace attack with Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood has taken 215 Test wickets at an average of 25 runs per wicket.
But he must now wrest his Test place back from Scott Boland, who took 18 wickets in three Tests, including an unlikely haul of six wickets for seven in the second innings of his debut.
