Australia playing Australia A could be feasible alternative to India series, suggests Josh Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood believes that Cricket Australia (CA) could potentially look at arranging a series between Australia and Australia A, should travel restrictions jeopardize the country’s home summer of 2020/21. Prior to the Ashes, 24 Aussie players featured in a similar, intra-squad warm-up match.
With Australia’s tour of Bangladesh already being indefinitely postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, there is also fear that the country might not be able to host both the World T20 and the Tests against India, that are scheduled to happen post-October. The country has taken strict measures to combat the Covid-19 threat, including imposing a six-month travel ban, and many believe that it might eventually end up as a hindrance to hosting all the scheduled cricketing matches in the country for the rest of the year.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood, however, has a feasible alternative to this situation, in case the situation does not get better. Hazlewood believes that CA could organize a full-fledged series between Australia and Australia A should the series against India get cancelled - something that Australia are not new to, given they did the same in a warm-up game prior to the England series.
“It was definitely exciting playing in England, before the Ashes started. I guess that was a bit of a mixed bag of players but it was the strongest 24 players in red-ball cricket in Australia. It was a pretty exciting game, to be honest. No one held back, spots were on the line,” Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.
The intra-squad warm-up game prior to the Ashes was a high-octane, intense contest, where two separate teams comprising 12 Aussie players in each team went toe-to-toe with each other and according to Hazlewood, such a contest might get the fans back home really hyped. The right-arm pacer also stated that such a series would also help Shield cricket and cricketers grow in stature, given it will feature the country’s top players in action.
“So I guess you'll have that same sort of a feel in an Australia vs Australia A game in Australia. I think obviously Australia always loves an underdog, so they'd probably get behind the A team. But as you mentioned, Shield cricket would probably go to a new level as well, with all the Aussie players playing and that being the main focus. So I think you could go for a bit of both, if no international teams toured, that would be the top level of cricket.”
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