During the final days of his truncated and insane Test career, Bruce Reid always seemed to be picking up bags of wickets or missing through injury.
In fact, in his last nine Tests, spread over three years, Reid took 51 wickets at 18.58, striking every 43 balls. Nineteen wickets came in the last two Tests he was able to complete, 11 months apart. In this period practically all of Reid’s were a privilege to see.
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Thirty-one years later, and 31-year-old Josh Hazlewood has carved out an equally frustrating niche. Since the end of the 2019 Ashes series, Hazlewood has played just 11 of Australia’s 24 Tests amid hamstring and side problems.
When he has played, Hazlewood’s combination of height, subtle movement and quick pace has proved almost as difficult as Reid once did: 34 wickets at 23.52 while conceding just 2.41 runs an over. When he hasn’t, Australia have worked out their options.
Jhye Richardson, Michael Neser and, above all, Scott Boland, have provided moments of quality. But it was hard not to enjoy the sight of Hazlewood, in form and with fine pace, asking devilish questions of a flustered South African order at the SCG.
In a first spell of 6-1-11-1 at the Paddington End, Hazlewood created three chances and a bit, torturing Proteas captain Dean Elgar as his team-mates had done in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Daniel Brettig’s full story here.