Injured Hazlewood, Starc on track for World Cup

Australia received a massive boost to their Internation Cricket Council (ICC) 2019 World cup campaign as pacers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc resumed bowling this week and are on track to be fit in-time for the mega event.

Hazlewood has been away from the game since January due to a back injury, while Starc pulled out of Australia’s limited-overs tour to India last month with a “substantial” muscle tear.

The news regarding their return couldn’t have come at a better time for Australia as they suffered a setback earlier this week. Right-arm pacer Jhye Richardson got sidelined from Australia’s one-day series against Pakistan due to a dislocated shoulder.

While talking in a Cricket Australia podcast, Hazlewood said: “When the squad gets announced I'll probably be 65-70 percent and I've still got a good four or five weeks from that date to get ready to play one-day cricket.”

Australia will attend a training camp in Brisbane in early May and are expected to play some warm-up games against New Zealand before heading to Britain.

Hazlewood won’t be available for the warm-up games against New Zealand, but he is optimistic to be fit for the warm-up games in England.

"I don't think I'll be fit for those but the one-day warm-up games in England I think I'll be right," he said.

Speaking on Starc’s return, the right-arm pacer said: “He (Starc) looks fine, as he started bowling as well this week. He's coming off not as big a break as me so won't take him long to get up and running. He seems to be heading in the right direction."