Hazlewood out of Ashes opener with hamstring injury

Australia have suffered a huge blow ahead of the Ashes, with Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the opening Test in Perth with a hamstring injury three days after initially being cleared when he left the field during New South Wales' Sheffield Shield game against Victoria at the SCG.

Hazlewood will not travel to Perth this weekend, and Queensland seamer Michael Neser has been added to the squad, which has also lost Sean Abbott to a hamstring injury.

Pat Cummins had already been ruled out of at least the opening Test as he recovers from a back injury.

"Initial scans Wednesday were clear of muscle strain, however follow-up imaging today has confirmed the injury," a CA statement on Saturday said. "Early imaging can occasionally underestimate low-grade muscle injuries."

The latest injury means that Brendan Doggett could be closing in a Test debut with even more onus now on Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland.

Hazlewood, who sits on 295 Test wickets, had bowled superbly in the white-ball matches against India last month and again looked in good rhythm in his Shield outing. However, after completing his spell on the third morning, he told Steven Smith, who was captaining NSW and will lead Australia in Perth, that he was feeling some tightness in his hamstring and Smith told him to leave the field immediately.

He walked to a clinic next door to the SCG to have a scan which, before the match had ended, came back clear. Cummins, who had been at the ground to see the physios before speaking at a commercial engagement, said Hazlewood had been in good spirits after the result.

Last season, Hazlewood missed three of the five Tests against India, firstly because of a side strain and then a calf injury.

Since 2014, Australia have only twice played a Test at home without Cummins and Hazlewood, but won on both occasions - against England in 2021 and West Indies in 2022 - which are also the two Tests Neser has played.

Doggett, the South Australia quick, has been in excellent form since return from his own hamstring problem with 13 wickets in two matches. He was a traveling reserve for the World Test Championship final earlier this year and had been due to tour West Indies before injury ruled him out. If Doggett makes a debut in Perth he would become Australia's third Indigenous men's player and it would be the first time a men's Test XI featured two Indigenous players, alongside Boland.

Cummins has recently increased the intensity of his return to bowling with an eye on a potential return in Brisbane although that remains a race against time. He said he was operating around 90% during a spell in the SCG nets last week.

"[The Gabba] is what we're building towards," Cummins said. "Hopefully by Perth, I'm up there near 100%, and then see where we're at. It's still pretty aggressive, going from nothing to trying to get ready for a Test match in four weeks. But we're going to give it a good shot."

Australia's pace-bowling depth is already being severely tested and further injuries would leave them scrambling for more options. Jhye Richardson has been named in the Cricket Australia XI to face England Lions and there is hope he could become an option later in the series as he returns from shoulder surgery. Xavier Bartlett is another who could come into contention.

Click here to read article