Josh Hazlewood Ruled Out: Australia has suffered a major blow in the middle of the historic five-match Ashes series against England. Key fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the entire Ashes Test series. Not only that, he will not be able to play a single match for Australia this summer season. The pacer has been sidelined from the Ashes series due to injury. He was already unavailable for the first two matches, but now he will not be a part of the series at all.
Josh Hazlewood suffered an injury while playing in Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield tournament last month and missed the first two Ashes Tests against England, which Australia won to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Hazlewood, who was already dealing with a hamstring injury, suffered another setback last week when he sustained an Achilles injury. Australian coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Tuesday that the fast bowler will now miss the remainder of the Test season.
Josh Hazlewood was part of the Australian team for the ODI and T20 series against India. Following that, the board asked him to play in the Sheffield Shield to prepare for the Ashes series. It was there that he suffered a hamstring injury, which sidelined him for several weeks. Now, during his rehabilitation, he has sustained another injury, which will keep him out of the Australian team for another one to two months.
The third Test is scheduled to be played at the Adelaide Oval from December 17th. Cricket Australia has already confirmed that Hazlewood will not be part of this series.
"Unfortunately, Josh won't be a part of the Ashes," McDonald said.
"Really, really flat for him. A couple of setbacks that we didn't see coming, and we thought he would play a huge part in the series.
"It's a totally separate injury. It's somewhere lower in the calf to Achilles region. His preparation will then shift towards the World Cup, which is an incredibly important campaign for us."
However, the good news is that regular captain and pace bowler Pat Cummins is expected to return for this match. Cummins has also been struggling with an injury for some time and missed the first two matches, but he may now be available for the third Test. He had already started bowling before the first Test. He has also stated in a statement that he is fully prepared for the Adelaide Test.
"His body's ready to go and barring anything else happening in the next week, I'd be expecting Pat to be tossing the coin and putting the blazer on," McDonald said.
McDonald said Cummins was extremely close to featuring during the second Test at the Gabba, where the Aussies registered their second consecutive eight-wicket triumph over England for the series.
"There won't be any match opportunities for Pat, and this is something we've done with Pat before, off long layoffs, where we've put some time and effort into rebuilding his body," McDonald said.
"He was out at Allan Border Field, while everyone was out at the Gabba. So he simulated pretty much what a match will look like out there with multiple spells. So we feel as though he'll be as best prepared as he can be.
"He was well ahead of where we thought he'd be at. And it did create a real live conversation for Brisbane, the skill readiness, the loads, how he was pulling up. It was debated a lot leading into that Test match. So with that in mind, us seeing him further advanced, we feel it'd be really well placed for the challenges of Adelaide, albeit off a long way off. We feel as though the simulation in the nets have got him skill ready."
Ashes 2025-26 Series Schedule
First Test: Perth Stadium, November 21-22 (Australia won by eight wickets)
Second Test: Gabba, December 4-7 (Australia won by eight wickets)
Third Test: Adelaide Oval, December 17-21
Fourth Test: MCG, December 26-30
Fifth Test: SCG, January 4-8
