Josh Hazlewood dismissed Virat Kohli on day three.Credit:Getty Images
But on the fourth morning of a rain-strewn match,Hazlewood was driven by team security manager Frank Dimasi to a Brisbane sports medicine clinic where scans confirmed he had suffered a right calf strain in morning warm-ups. Hazlewood’s single,ginger over of Tuesday morning will now almost certainly be his last for the Test summer.
After holding an impromptu conference on the field with captain Pat Cummins,deputy Steve Smith and team physio Nick Jones,Hazlewood then accompanied Jones to the boundary and headed for further assessment of the issue,which came hot on the heels of the side strain.
Tuesday’s issue was not a recurrence of the earlier injury,evidenced by the sight of a glum-looking Hazlewood emerging from a Brisbane sports medicine clinic with a compression sleeve around his right calf on Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s pretty despondent,” assistant coach Dan Vettori said. “He felt it this morning in warm-ups and gave it a good crack,but it’s unfortunate for him to come back,put so much effort in after another injury with a side strain from the last Test and then pick up a calf injury here,particularly in these circumstances,was really tough on him.”
Victorian Scott Boland,who subbed in for Hazlewood in Adelaide,will now almost certainly return to the side for the MCG match,where he enjoys a handsome record in Tests.